Class 




S41 



Book- '^2. HG 



i^litl^^ 



1.]0 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




WiT/: " ■■ " 







--.' + 







1 




(By courtesy Canadian War Records.) 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR ARTHUR W. CURRIE, G. C. M. G., G. C. B., 

Commander of the Canadian Army Corps in France, 1917-1919 



CANADA AT WAR 

1914-1918 

A Record of Heroism and Achievement 



BY 



J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.S.S., F.R.G.S. 

AUTHOR OP "the CANADIAN ANNUAL REVIEW OP PUBLIC APPAIRB, 
1901-1918" 



INCLUDING 

A STORY OF FIVE CITIES 

BY 

ROBERT JOHN RENISON 

CHAPLAIN, 4th CANADIAN INFANTRY BBIQADD 



ILLUSTRATED 




NEW >iSJr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



31sifi 



Copyriffht, 1919, 
By George H. Doran Company 



Copyright, Canada, 1919, 
By 8. Bradley Oumdy 



Printed in the United States of America 

©CI. A 53 6 3 8 6 ^ -. 

OCT i2 >'^*^ 






TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Introduction by Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Laird Borden, g.c.m.g., 

P.O., M.P 1 

Chapter 

1 The Eve of the Storm in Canada 5 

2 The Thunderbolt of War 22 

3 Meeting a Crisis of National Life 36 

4 The War Ministry of Canada 54 

5 On the Way to War — Raising an Army 73 

6 On the Way to War — Canadians in England 99 

7 Canadians at the Front in 1915 123 

8 Canadians at the Front in 1916 139 

9 Canadians at the Front in 1917 154 

10 The Year of Victory — 1918 177 

11 Munitions of War 194 

12 War Economics and Conditions in Canada 210 

13 War Gifts and Patriotic Work of the People 246 

14 The French Canadians and the War 267 

15 Union Government and the War Elections 303 

16 The End — Canada a British Nation 334 

Members of the C. E. F. who won the Victoria Cross in the 

World War 349 

Diary of the World War 353 

A Stoey of Five Cities : 

I Amiens, and the Turning of the Tide 361 

II Aeeas, Zero plus Twenty-Four Hours 376 

III Cambeai, and the Gates of Pearl 390 

rV Valenciennes, and the Promised Land 404 

V MoNS, and the March to the Rhine 415 

VI The Invisible City, the Bivouac of the Dead 435 

Index 443 

[V] 



LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS 



PAGE 

Lieut.-Gen. Sir Arthur W. Currie Frontispiece 

Sir Robert Borden on Board H. M. S. Elizabeth 8 

Sir Robert Borden Reviewing Canadian Troops in France. . 8 
A Canadian Divisional General Explaining the Use of a 

Machine Gun against Enemy Planes 8 

Canadian Officers Entertaining Nurses at Tea 8 

Canadian Soldier Fishing in France 24 

Canadians Playing Cards on !N"ewly-captured Ground 24 

Canadian-Scottish Barbers at Work at the Front 24 

Canadians at Vimy in the Front-line Trenches 24 

Canadian Gun Firing on German Battery 40 

A Few of the Empties from Vimy Ridge 40 

Canadian Corps Tramway Track Through a Shell-ruined 

Village 40 

The Zero Hour 40 

Captured German Regimental Commanders 56 

Canadian Railway Troops Building Tracks 56 

Canadians Using Indian Methods of Carrying Loads 56 

Canadian Machine Gunners Firing at the Enemy 56 

Imperial Troops Reviewed by General Mewburn Y2 

Canadians in French Raincoats Y2 

Canadian Pioneer Corps Felling Trees V2 

An Ammunition Dump Behind the Front 72 

Canadian Artillery Loading Limbers 88 

A Mobile Workshop for Rifle Repairs 88 

Anti-aircraft Section Men Playing Poker 88 

A Captured German High Velocity Gun 88 

Machine Guns Captured at Vimy Ridge 120 

A Canadian Salvage Dump 120 

Canadians Using a Tank for Transport Purposes 120 

Canadians Taking Coffee at a Y. M. C. A. Hut 120 

The Canal Du ITord of Canadian Battle-fame 152 

One of the Five Spires of Cambrai 152 

Ruins of JiTeuville-Vitasse 152 

A Ruined Town in the Arras-Cambrai Zone 152 

tvii] 



viii LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS 

PAGE 

Canadian Highlanders on the Way to Attack Cambrai. ... 184 

Wounded Canadians Awaiting Carriage to the Rear 184 

Young Canadian Viewing the Promised Land 184 

Cambrai and the Gates of Pearl 184 

The Trail of the Hun 216 

What War Means! 216 

German Prisoners at Work 216 

Faithful Unto Death 216 

Cambrai Cathedral 248 

F. M. Sir Douglas Haig Congratulating Canadian Troops. . 248 

The Tank — The Machine Gun's Master 248 

Trophies for Canadians 248 

Sir A. E. Kemp as Minister of Militia Overseas Visiting the 

Front 280 

Canadian Journalists in France 280 

Canadian Cavalry Studying Electoral Districts Before Voting 280 

Canada's Olympiad in France — July 1, 1918 280 

H. R. H. The Duke of Connaught Congratulating Sports- 
men at the Olympiad on Dominion Day 312 

F. M. Sir Douglas Haig Inspecting a Canadian Brigade. . . 312 
H. M. The King at Witley Camp, England, on May 8, 1918. 312 

Lieut.-Gen. Sir Julian Byng with his Personal Staff 312 

M. Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister, at the Canadian 

Front 344 

General Currie Inspecting the Trophies of Amiens 344 

Thanking Canadians for Deliverance at Valenciennes 344 

Victorious Canadians Reviewed at Mons 344 

The 42nd Battalion, which Led the Canadians Into Mons. . . . 376 
General Currie Taking the Salute in Mons on the Morning of 

the Armistice 376 

General Currie at Memorial Service for Canadians 376 

A Canadian Funeral Under Shell-fire 376 

Burial of Canadian Victims in a Hospital which was Bom- 
barded from the Air 408 

Memorial Service at Etaples, June 30, 1918 408 

General Sir Arthur Currie Unveiling Memorial at Vimy 

Ridge 408 

The Bivouac of the Dead 408 



PREFACE 

By the Prime Minister of Canada 

Many books have been written about the World War, 
and many more are certain to be written. Each of these 
books must necessarily have its own particular point of 
view — British, French, Belgian, Russian, or American — 
according to the nationality or situation of the writer ; and, 
assuming always that the work is accurate and conscien- 
tious, each should have for its readers an interest and 
value of its own. It is the mission of the present volume 
to survey the battleground of the nations from the view- 
point of Canada, and to record the various phases of Cana- 
dian life and thought, action and accomplishment. And it is 
in that regard that this volume performs a distinctive 
service and is entitled to an enduring place among the 
works of contemporary historians. 

All those, and they are many, who are familiar with 
the work of Mr. Castell Hopkins in The Canadian Annual 
Review, will welcome this new publication, founded upon 
facts gathered by him with infinite labour and pains, con- 
tained in the Review itself, and so arranged here as to 
form a continuous narrative of Canada's share in the 
mighty struggle for the ideals of our Empire and race and 
the preservation of our civilization. I am confident that 
I voice the feeling of thousands of readers, to whom Mr. 



2 PKEFACE 

Castell Hopkins as an author is well known, when I say 
that no writer conld be better fitted than he to tell this 
story of the Canadian people at war, of their representa- 
tives and ministers at home, and of the valour and achieve- 
ment of their sons on the battlefields of the World War. 

Ottawa, 1918. 




C\ <^i^ 



CANADA AT WAR 



[3] 



CHAPTER I 
THE EVE OF THE STOKM IN CANADA 

When, on August 4, 1914, the world's liberties, the exist- 
ence of small nations, the mastery of the seas, the lordship 
of Europe, the dominance of the world, were thrown into a 
vast crucible of war, Canada, as a Dominion of the British 
Empire, was a prosperous community, with a contented 
people holding rich resources in fee for the future and 
building slowly but surely upon foundations which had been 
carefully laid and safeguarded. It was a new country, a 
young nationality, crude in some of its developments, clever 
and progressive in others, aggressively independent in all 
phases of life and thought. It had the advantage of great 
traditions and of a history extending back into the storied 
past, with a continuity of patriotism conserved by the 
Imperial connection; its people could study the treasured 
memories of Scotland or Ireland or England and feel that 
though the title-deeds of the race were in Westminster they 
were held there for Canadians as truly as for those born 
within the sound of Bow BeUs or the sweeter strains of 
Shandon. 

Those who had the local or national instinct more largely 
developed than the Imperial could look with pride upon a 
purely Canadian record of pioneer achievements, of early 
patriotism bred of privation and toil and peril, of loyalty 
held against the armed forces of the American invader or 
the sometimes persuasive force of United States contiguity. 
Many who were affected by these influences from the 
Republic to the south still found scope for action and devel- 
opment under the freedom of the flag and were able to 
cultivate a certain American alertness and aggressiveness 
in business methods, to develop personal characteristics 
quite different from those of the British or French founders 

[5] 



6 CANADA AT WAR 

of the country and to evolve new and sometimes eccentric 
opinions as to politics or government or the elements of 
liberty. 

In the years immediately preceding the World War, how- 
ever, Canada was practically a unit in satisfaction with its 
position in the British Empire. It was one which brought 
safety without clear responsibility — Imperial protection 
without taxation and with very little expenditure even 
upon the local Militia, the prestige of British citizenship 
abroad and at home without the vast burdens of Navy and 
Army and diplomacy. The French Canadian received 
these advantages and the further benefit of special rights 
and privileges in laws, language and religion which claimed 
the guarantee of British treaties and the force of British 
pledges. The English Canadian had vague memories of 
British historic aid in the settlement and upbuilding of 
pioneer Canada. They were blurred by distance in time, 
by political controversies, by indistinct teaching in school 
and forum and press ; they were even at times denied alto- 
gether. American and foreign settlers in the country 
influenced the latter school of thought and helped an ele- 
ment which stood, often unconsciously, for a policy of future 
Independence. In this latter connection there was an 
Americanizing process under way which was not publicly 
recognized nor clearly understood. It had no relationship 
to the old-time fears of political annexation which were as 
dead as such an issue could be, but it had a strong, indirect 
force as, presently, "will be seen. 

Taking into first consideration the primary British sen- 
timent of the people, it would seem that the facts were 
strong and sufficient to afford a stable basis for the loyalty 
and satisfaction which did exist. When the tiny settle- 
ments along the St. Lawrence, on the borders of the Great 
Lakes, or on the shores of the Atlantic, had been in the 
birth-pains of United States revolution, invasion and 
attempted conquest, Great Britain was unstinted in her 



THE EVE OP THE STOEM IN CANADA 7 

supply of blood and men and money; when soldiers were 
needed to support Canada's growth and maintain its inter- 
ests and hold its territory, British troops and fortifications 
were maintained in the country at a total expenditure of 
$500,000,000 during the nineteenth century ; when Canadian 
commerce became a matter of international concern, as its 
vast, unbroken territories had long been an object of inter- 
national cupidity, absolute security was found within the 
scope of Britain's naval supremacy; when British dignity 
and Canadian feeling were shamed by the Trent affair, 
10,000 British soldiers came to Canada as fast as ships 
could bring them ; when the Fenian invasion illustrated the 
helplessness of a country like this lying alongside the terri- 
tory of a great Power, Britain paid the damages rather 
than risk war with a United States stirred to fever-heat 
by passions of the moment, which, happily, have since 
disappeared. 

If Canadian settlers needed roads and canals and bridges 
in pioneer days, British money-grants had supplied them; 
if the Indians for half a century required expensive cod- 
dling and yearly gifts and payments, the money was pro- 
vided by Great Britain ; if the churches wanted vast sums 
for pioneer work and continued development, British volun- 
tary societies contributed $100,000,000 during the nine- 
teenth century; if railways, such as the Intercolonial, had 
to be constructed, at a period when Provincial credit was 
poor and inter-Provincial unity a dream, Great Britain 
guaranteed the loans to a total amount of $25,000,000 ; if in 
later years countless enterprises, private and national, 
required money, it was freely accorded in London up to a 
present total of $2,800,000,000 of British investments in 
Canada. 

If the Dominion wanted to build great canals, or con- 
struct a Canadian Pacific, or a Canadian Northern, or a 
Grand Trunk Pacific, the money was readily obtained in 
London at a rate of interest and with a facility which no 



8 CANADA AT WAR 

small nation not under the British flag, and not having 
British power and stability to guarantee its position, could 
possibly have commanded; if, since Confederation, Cana- 
dian trade upon the seas of the world, totalling 
$10,000,000,000, was never disturbed by threats or the 
shadow of a real menace, it was due to the protection of 
the Imperial Navy; if Canadian liberties were of a regu- 
lated, defined and orderly nature which became the envy 
of visiting or observant statesmen in the American Eepub- 
lic it was due to evolution under British institutions and 
loyalty to an ideal of monarchical government. Very few 
Canadians, even of the staunchest British loyalty or 
Imperial aspiration, thought in exactly these terms, knew 
in detail aU the facts mentioned, or realized, for instance, 
that the hard-pressed and greatly-burdened British tax- 
payer had during the nineteenth century expended at least 
$1,200,000,000 upon Canada's military and naval defence 
and pioneer operations. But, in vague ways, in under- 
currents of discussion, in growing popular knowledge, the 
situation was coming home more or less clearly to many 
Canadians, 

On the one side, therefore, of the Canadian mind during 
a century's evolution, and affecting it greatly when the 
storm and stress of war upheaval came, were these and 
other British considerations — in varied form and detail 
and degrees of force. On the other side of this mind ofi 
Canada were influences bred of United States contiguity, 
fostered by expansion, after the American Civil War, of a 
commercialism which affected imperceptibly, but surely, 
the tendencies of patriotic thought, promoted by the natural 
pressure of a virile, aggressive American people, growing 
from fifty to one hundred millions, upon a small community 
of five to eight millions. With a United States which might 
be hostile or unfriendly or too aggressive, there was a 
tendency in Canada to look to Britain, to rely upon British 
power for defence ; with a United States which was indif- 



THE EVE OF THE STORM IN CANADA 9 

ferent, or fairly friendly, or conciliatory in policy, there 
was a tendency to regard it with more respect and to be 
yielding and conciliatory in return, to discuss the supposed 
strength or effectiveness of its Monroe Doctrine, to feel 
the influence of the Pacifist tendencies and trade forces and 
fiscal policies which the Republic developed in later years. 

The materialistic spirit of the day in the United States 
also had a strong reflex action in Canada. It took varied 
forms and the more selfish it was in application the stronger 
was the patriotic front sometimes given to it. There were 
Canadians who supported Protection not as a defensive or 
helpful instrument of trade and taxation but as a weapon 
for excluding all competition whether British or American, 
Imperial or foreign; there were those who urged Free 
Trade purely because they needed a certain market for 
their wares or goods and not because it was, theoretically, 
a policy of peace and progress ; there were many who talked 
of national development and meant absolutely nothing but 
the creation of larger personal opportunities for making 
money — to them increased population, enhanced agricul- 
tural production, growing land values in city and country, 
were the beginning and end of national life. From the 
United States in part, from certain phases of human nature 
in part, many caught this spirit of materialism in whom it 
was not inherent, and it had an obvious place in the con- 
ditions facing the outbreak of war. The greater the pros- 
perity in Canada, as in the United States, the more marked 
was this condition; the larger the financial return to the 
individual the more apt was he to be wrapped up in con- 
sideration of the money market or the price of produce. 

The indirect, continuous, but cumulative effect of the 
pressure upon Canada's southern frontier of this great 
nation, speaking in the main a similar language, having 
similar customs and social conditions, holding similar 
instincts of trade and business, could not but fail to aifect 
national thought and action at such a crisis as that of 1914. 
2 



10 CANADA AT WAR 

The proximity of Canadian and United States cities, the 
constant interchange of travel and trade, the identity of 
literature and press and theatrical performance, the inter- 
marriage and intermigration of peoples, the close ties of 
international organized Labour, all tended to produce a 
considerable likeness in political lines of thought as well as 
in business practice. Pacifism, agrarianism or socialism 
travelled easily across the border of the United States into 
Canada and found footing, though not in the same degree 
of strength as in the Eepublic. American methods of busi- 
ness and manufacturing found deeper root — and very 
largely superseded the slower and surer British traditions 
and practices of the past. 

In Canadian cities, as in the United States, stock- 
brokerage and real estate speculation had flourished for 
years just prior to the War and made or marred many 
fortunes; everywhere the building of railways — to the 
extent of 12,000 miles in fourteen years — had spread hun- 
dreds jof millions of borrowed money upon the carpet of 
competition and thrown into feverish activity the land 
values of the West ; during half a decade centres of popu- 
lation in the Western Provinces grew up in a year and 
villages in a night, with occasional incidents on record such 
as that of a bare prairie scene at a certain date, with, three 
months later, the holding of a Mayoralty election on the 
same piece of ground! As an outcome of these and other 
elements of materialism the price of wheat in regions where 
grain grew with ease and, if weather conditions were good, 
might produce twenty-two bushels to the acre at a minimum 
of cost or exertion, often became more important than 
ideals of national government, conditions of Empire defence 
or problems of political purity. When, in 1913, the produc- 
tion of Western wheat grew to 136,000,000 bushels the ques- 
tion of transportation became so vital that it overshadowed 
all other issues, and so it was in a lesser degree, or more 
localized aspect, with the gro^vth of mushroom real estate 



THE EVE OF THE STORM IN CANADA 11 

values in and around the cities of Canada in 1911-12 and 
the special development of the sub-division phenomenon 
under which farms outside Montreal or Toronto, Winnipeg 
or Calgary, Regina or Vancouver, assumed metropolitan 
values and duplicated many incidents of United States 
development. 

Another continental factor was the effect of emigration 
to the United States and the influx of Americans into Can- 
ada. The American 1900 Census put Canadians in the 
United States at a total of 1,181,000 with 90 per cent of 
the English and 84 per cent of the French Canadians nat- 
uralized. The interchange of thought and opinion and 
visits between these people and Canadian relations or 
friends, and the arrival in Canada between 1897 and 1914 
of 1,000,000 American settlers, had a pronounced effect 
upon the methods of Canadian business, the development of 
Canadian resources, the social customs and life of the 
people. What influence it had upon the national and 
Imperial sentiment or aspirations of the public the World 
War of 1914 was to clearly indicate. 

These conditions did, undoubtedly, aid in creating a 
certain cosmopolitanism of thought, a feeling which was 
non-British or non-Canadian and which, in some quarters, 
for instance, looked to the Monroe Doctrine for future pro- 
tection and forgot that the British Navy in its silent sweep 
of the seas guarded both Canadian autonomy and the 
Monroe Doctrine itself. W. H. Taft, ex-President of the 
United States, distinctly informed a Toronto audience^ 
after war had broken out that this Doctrine did not con- 
template protection of American countries against invasion 
or injury in war, but only against permanent occupation 
by a hostile Power. He did not explain how the United 
States could prevent a permanent occupation of Canada or 
Brazil by Germany should that Power over-run Europe 
and overcome British naval forces. But the mere fact of 

* Canadian Club, February 11, 1915. 



13 CANADA AT WAE 

some Canadians having raised this point showed how far 
they had gone from principles of National patriotism, how 
much they had been unconsciously influenced by American 
thought and how they were being prepared for a secretly 
held ideal of separation and independence. 

In Quebec there was neither belief in the possibility of 
war, fear for the future of its peace-loving and cheerful- 
minded people, or dreams of aught but a quiet expansion 
of population, creed, and language over an ever-widening 
area of Canadian soil. French-Canadian ideas of Empire 
or of foreign politics and international issues, or of national 
responsibilities, were all alike, vague. Even Canada to 
very many of its people was a mere geographical expres- 
sion, with the United States, along the border, better known 
than British Columbia, and the St. Lawrence river, a splen- 
did epitome, in its rolling waters, of the assumed power 
and possibilities of their race. As the United States manu- 
facturer came to Ontario and the United States farmer to 
the Canadian West in varied circles of influence, so the 
French-Canadian emigrants of a decade before returned on 
visits to their Quebec villages and told the habitants won- 
derful tales of United States greatness and money-making 
opportunities. France had become a far-away factor in a 
distant past; only her cherished language remained to 
appeal to French Canadian sympathy in her days of trial. 
Too often Great Britain had been represented on political 
platforms as a grasping Power which sought to weaken 
Quebec 's autonomy instead of being the beneficent influence 
which had created and safeguarded its popular liberties 
and privileges. Hence it was that the French Canadian^ 
least of all the population of Canada, was prepared to face 
the vast issues of August, 1914. 

Partly from the United States and partly from Great 
Britain had come another condition which emphasized the 
materialism of the day and enhanced the state of national 
unpreparedness. At the same time it appealed to some of 



THE EVE OF THE STOEM IN CANADA IS 

the finest instincts in humanity and touched some of its 
loftiest ideals. The Pacifist school of thought at this period 
covered or included many things. As with Socialism some 
of its teachers knew everything but human nature; and 
drew every conclusion from existing conditions except the 
right one. In its better aspects the ideal had strong British 
support, powerful American backing, vigorous Canadian 
sympathies. Lloyd George in England, Andrew Fisher in 
Australia, W. P. Schreiner in South Africa, Sir W. Laurier 
in Canada, and W. J. Bryan in the United States, stood for 
the ideal of nations trading and living in peace, without 
aggressive policy or ambition, without the clashing of arms 
or deliberate preparedness for war. 

Such ideals of Peace had always found a strong place, a 
natural place, in Canada. Surrounded on two sides by an 
inviolate sea — safer than in Shakespeare's day and Shake- 
speare's country — but with its security based upon the 
same silent sweep of British warships ; backed on the north 
by the equally inviolate Arctic regions and faced on the 
south by a powerful, peace-talking Eepublic of democratic 
ideals, Canada had developed an isolation from Europe 
which made the genuine Imperialism of a part of its people 
and the actual loyalty of its masses an extraordinary condi- 
tion and its refusal to accept closer commercial relations 
with the United States almost a miracle. To many Cana- 
dians the wars and talk of wars in Europe were far-away 
echoes of other and barbaric ages ; the vast armies facing 
each other across national frontiers from the sea-gates of 
the Ehine to the shores of the Bosphorus were mere tax- 
making toys of arbitrary or foolish rulers ; the British Navy 
itself often was a splendid and picturesque expression ot 
fantastic fears! 

The world-situation to them was unreal. Europe was 
veritably a vortex of militarism, its people would some day 
rise and by mere voting power destroy an evil dream. 
Canada and the United States were far from these things 



14 CANADA AT WAR 

and should keep away from them ; the 2,000 miles of ocean 
was the greatest of all protective agencies! To some, in 
both of these countries, Peace had become a habit of 
thought, almost a religious dogma ; to them its environment 
was perpetual, its principles were those of the Medes and 
Persians — immutable, omnipotent. Indirectly, this feeling 
in Canada affected public opinion as to Empire obligations 
and national responsibilities, as to support of the Militia, 
and as to other problems touching the place of the Dominion 
in the Empire and amongst the younger and lesser nations 
of the world. It was strengthened by various international 
organizations — peace, or business, or labour, or social In 
character ; it found expression in crowded meetings to hear 
such speakers as Goldwin Smith or Andrew Carnegie or 
Norman Angell; it rejoiced, and properly so, in the cele- 
bration of the hundred years of peace between the United 
States and Britain or Canada; it proclaimed in varied 
forms and on many occasions, in the press and on the plat- 
form and in the pulpit, that the forces compelling peace 
and prohibiting war were increasing and had, in fact, 
become dominant for reasons which may be summarized as 
follows : 

1. The bankers and financial interests were so 
powerful and the probable cost of a great war 
so vast as to insure the peaceful settlement of 
issues involved. 

2. The commerce of the world was so interna- 
tionalized and so potent that it was the imperative 
interest of business men in every nation to con- 
serve peace and prevent war. 

3. Labour organizations. Socialistic and similar 
forces, were so strong that by an international 
strike or by localized national influence they could 
and would forbid war. 

4. The press of the world had become so strong 
and so effective in its distribution of news and 
views as to make possible, by some league of 
nations, a commercial boycott which would compel 
an aggressive Power to come to terms. 



THE EVE OF THE STOKM IN CANADA 15 

5. Civilized principles, the precepts of religion, 
the growth of trade, the expansion of knowledge, 
had combined to make war impossible : the tremen- 
dous growth of armaments in Europe had nullified 
its own objects by replacing ordinary war with 
wholesale and impossible slaughter. 

These and similar arguments were used with great effect 
and promoted a state of mind in Canada which, at times, 
vigorously deprecated Dreadnoughts, denounced drill-halls, 
and dreaded or deprecated a so-called Militarism. The 
prosperous condition of the country, the degree of substan- 
tial progress which had come to its people in the decade 
prior to 1914, was another factor in leaving Canada unpre- 
pared in thought to meet a world-mde clash of arms. The 
prosperity of this period was not spectacular in its quality; 
in some branches of national life, indeed, there was depres- 
sion ; but the basic industries and financial condition of the 
country were sound, there was little poverty and such 
business restriction as existed was to be found in a few 
stagnant industries and in reaction from a "Western real- 
estate inflation. The unemployment which showed itself in 
some centres was exaggerated and the winter of 1913-14 
saw about 30,000, or less than 2 per cent, of the adult popu- 
lation of Canada out of work. All the fundamental bases 
of the country were sound and the values of the farms, 
mines and forests, railways, urban property, machinery, 
live-stock, carriages and motors, foreign investments, man- 
ufacturing stocks and raw material, held by its 8,000,000 
of people were estimated at a total of $11,000,000,000. 

British money at the rate of $200,000,000 a year was still 
pouring into the loan companies, railways and other corpo- 
rations, and filtering through them down into the smaller 
industries and the agricultural development of the 
Dominion; United States capital to an estimated total of 
$600,000,000 in ten years was finding its favoured place in 
great industrial establishments — notably at Hamilton and 
"Winnipeg — and provided employment for large numbers 



16 CANADA AT WAR 

of men; the aggregate trade of the people had grown 
steadily from $386,000,000 in 1901 to $693,000,000 in 1910, 
and $1,129,000,000 in 1914, or $137 per capita, compared 
with $47 per head in the United States ; in agriculture the 
farmers, who totalled nearly a million of the population, 
had increased their field crops from $194,000,000 in 1901 
to $552,000,000 in 1913, mth an increase in the follow- 
ing year of $86,000,000. The Banks had deposits totaling 
more than $1,000,000,000 and this large sum they had used 
freely in the creation and encouragement of a myriad indus- 
tries and in the promotion of agricultural production, or 
movement of crops from farm to tide-water, while at the 
same time safe-guarding by careful discrimination and 
necessary restriction, in years of passing difficulty, the 
general interests of the investor, the prestige of the 
national credit, and the financial fabric of the country. 

The ideal of Independence was not in any sense a public 
issue in Canada, nor did it threaten to become one in the 
near future. It was, however, a sub-conscious sentiment 
influencing public policy indirectly but sometimes strongly. 
Born of isolation from the Empire, helped by certain dis- 
cords in the ordinary harmony of Imperial relationship, 
such as the Alaskan affair, aided still more by the non- 
British sentiment of American settlers, visitors, traders, 
and social interchanges, affected by the general undefined 
force of contiguity to the immense democracy of the United 
States with all its special problems of economics, labour, 
migration, and society, finding easy root in soil nurtured 
by such special anti-British appeals as those of Henri 
Bourassa, it had a degree of strength unknown to many 
though not yet serious or dangerous to the British institu- 
tions of the country. It was, however, one to be reckoned 
with and it had clearly shown itself in speeches during the 
Naval debates at Ottawa; it was seen in certain Western 
utterances and new policies originating in the United 
States ; it took such forms as opposition to tying the hands- 



THE EVE OF THE STOEM IN CANADA 17 

of Canada in the future, or evolving any Empire relation- 
ship which would hamper Canadian action along any and 
all lines of independent legislation or policy; it appeared 
during the recruiting campaigns of 1914-17 in personal 
statements of indifference to England's fate and to Can- 
ada's place in the Empire. As with Pacifism it took forms- 
hard to recognize and was in a state of ebb and flow at the 
time when war faced theory and put the cards of force upon 
the table. 

In certain general conditions of a comparative and inter- 
national character it may be said that when the free but 
related communities of the British Empire found them- 
selves suddenly plunged into a great war and compelled to 
provide immense sums of money, large armies, and all the 
paraphernalia of shot and shell in a struggle for world 
supremacy on the one side and world liberty on the other, 
there was no guiding post of precedent or experience to go 
upon. It is difficult to compare compulsion and liberty in 
either operation or fruition ; the basic elements are so dif- 
ferent, the details of method so varied. In all cases, of 
course, in Germany as in England, in Austria or Turkey 
as in Canada, public opinion had to be conciliated in a sort 
of surface way. In other words the people had to be con- 
vinced that they were really fighting enemies who threat- 
ened their power or their prosperity, their trade or their 
territory, as the case might be. But in British countries 
all the organs of public opinion and private thought were 
absolutely independent of coercive Government action until 
after the issue was called; in Teutonic countries all, or 
practically all, of these elements of influence were con- 
trolled by Government power and guided, as the world 
afterwards knew, by a carefully planned Government policy 
which had extended over many years. 

The whole machinery of popular guidance at the outbreak 
of the war was different. In the one group of countries 
it was free, uncontrolled and often uncontrollable; in the 



18 CANADA AT WAK 

other it was tied and bound, seeded with care and moulded 
by force when necessary. British public thought was demo- 
cratic, sometimes to an extreme which spelt danger to 
public safety; German public thought was like a plant 
carefully trained, nurtured in a hot-house. In England 
liberty of thought, of trade, of party policy, of personal 
labour, of financial action, had reached a stage where 
organization was largely on behalf of sections or special 
interests and against the State; in Germany organization 
had attained a position where almost everything was for 
the State and against individualism or even sections of the 
people. To the English or Canadian ideal and practice of 
liberty Militarism was a thing apart, its very nature of 
preparedness abhorrent; to the modern German view of 
organization as the pivot of science, of politics, of govern- 
ment, of men, of everything, it was a natural part and 
parcel of life. In Britain or Canada an army had to be 
improvised, as it were, out of nothing — public opinion had 
to be fed mth patriotism where it was not instinctive, vol- 
untary action had to be developed, training carried out, 
organization effected in a myriad ways, and countless 
divergent ideals and policies persuaded, not forced, into 
regular grooves of action; in Germany a great army was 
easily kept ready and it was promptly utilized when needed 
as a farmer would use his threshing machine or an engineer 
drive forward his train of cars upon land or some great 
steamship upon the ocean. 

To individual Canadians the battle-call of war rang out 
as something beyond all personal experience or knowledge. 
The War of 1812 was a long-past memory buried beneath 
the facts of a hundred years of peace; the South African 
War action had been, chiefly, a patriotic ebullition of 7,000 
individuals who felt the call of extreme patriotism or pleas- 
ureable adventure. The country had received no training 
in the thought or fear of war, in the duties of the average 
citizen at a national or Imperial crisis, in the respective 



THE EVE OF THE STORM IN CANADA 19 

war obligations of the married or unmarried men to their 
country, in the patriotism which women should feel, and 
must feel, if they are to give their sons to the perils of the 
battle-field. Canadians at this time, in fact, had gone fur- 
ther than mere passive inaction; it was the inertia of a 
people lapped in peace for a hundred years. The favourite 
platform peroration of its speakers had long been the 
patriotism of the peace-maker; its Militia had always 
existed with difficulty and laboured under the disadvantage 
of political criticism and, until very recent years, of Par- 
liamentary cheese-paring; its tendency was to regard war 
as no longer necessary or possible and as a relic of bar- 
barism; its public men were inclined to view any defined 
preparation to meet war as militarism, Jingoism, and a 
flying in the face of Providence, religion, and national 
morality. Such a mental training was not calculated to 
make the average man willing, at a moment's notice, to sac- 
rifice comfort, career, pleasure, and, perhaps, life, to fight 
thousands of miles away for a cause which the British 
Navy prevented from directly touching its own country. 

So far as this sudden struggle was concerned, it also 
must be remembered that Canada was in it because of the 
British Empire, because of its constitutional relations with 
Grreat Britain, because when Britain was at war Canada 
was at war. Yet during many years the value of British 
connection had been minimized to a portion of the people, 
the benefits conferred by association with the Empire 
doubted if not denied, the responsibilities of Canada in and 
to the Empire sometimes whittled down to a thin point. 
It therefore would not have been altogether wonderful had 
Canada, after the first shock of war, failed to overcome the 
inertia of years ; to realize that it was the duty and interest 
of its people to put as many men in the field proportionately 
as Great Britain herself ; to understand that this was to be 
a struggle for national existence, and that it really was 
what patriotic speakers called "our war''; to feel that 



30 CANADA AT WAR 

Canada was no longer an insignificant, dependent, unknown 
colony, but a British nation with a nation's responsibilities 
and a nation 's wealth and with great resources which were 
fit prey for foreign cupidity if Britain's power was broken. 

Summing up the situation which existed when the British 
Empire and its Allies faced a Power greater and more 
determined in ambition, far more deliberate and ruthless 
in policy, better prepared and more powerful, than was 
France in the days of Napoleon, it seemed obvious that 
Canada was not in a position to fully realize the issue. 
Fortunately, it was ready for emergencies in the sense 
that any great business house which has its financial sails 
carefully furled, its capital intact, its assets liquid, is pre- 
pared to face a financial storm. Political conditions were 
reasonably quiet, no great issue was immediately pending, 
the Government had a substantial majority, and the ship 
of state was threatened by nothing more serious than 
Opposition charges of corruption or lack of aggressive 
action. In the Provinces Prohibition issues were develop- 
ing strength; in Ontario and Quebec the Bi-lingual contro- 
versy constituted a storm-cloud not yet large upon the 
horizon though with elements of danger in its formation 
and with political possibilities such as the Dominion had 
faced in the Manitoba School question of nearly two 
decades before. 

In a theoretical, abstract sort of way there was only one 
Canadian opinion as to the wanton aggressiveness of Ger- 
many in July, 1914, and its military preparedness and 
power; as to the German challenge to the world behind 
the Austrian war-front ; as to its refusal of the Conference 
which Britain had struggled for, which Eussia and France 
supported, and which Austria accepted on the very day 
that Germany threw down the gage of battle; as to the 
British principle of regard for treaties and the duty of 
upholding and enforcing them on behalf of little nations; 
as to the disgrace and overwhelming menace of the German 



THE EVE OF THE STORM IN CANADA 31 

invasion of Belgium. But Canadians did not grasp all the 
details at once as involving probable war to them or as the 
culmination of a terror which had been in the hearts of 
every reasonable statesman in Europe for a dozen years — 
a terror which might in Britain be side-tracked at times by 
politics or softened by an all-pervading love of peace as 
in the minds of a Haldane or a Lloyd George, but which 
was ready at a sign from the seething unrest of the Balkans, 
or from the tortuous or aggressive diplomacy of Berlin, to 
spring into life and action. There still was hope, however, 
a hope which sprang eternal in the breast of British diplo- 
macy until the dread reality appeared in the roar of 
German guns on Belgian soil. In the less experienced and 
more distant roots of Canadian sentiment this hope was 
more vigorous and the resulting disbelief in the reality of 
war more difficult to eradicate. 

Lapped in peaceful progress, therefore, the fateful 
Fourth of August, 1914, found in Canada a great country 
of the richest natural resources yet undeveloped in the 
world; possessed of half a billion of acres not yet culti- 
vated, which could grow the finest of grain and produce the 
best of live-stock and food for a myriad millions ; holding 
untold quantities of gold and silver, and minerals more 
precious than either, beneath the canopies of its mighty 
mountains or forest-clad hills; sending abroad yearly 
increasing cargoes of produce and manufactures and min- 
erals to the extent of a thousand million dollars. The 
strident note of war found this vast territory in possession 
of a small nation which depended absolutely for its safety 
upon the strength of the British Navy and was possessed 
only of a small, though effective, militia force which it 
never expected to use. War was the last thing that its 
people thought of, and, as already pointed out, no prelimi- 
naries of international negotiation, or far-away verbal con- 
flict, or military and naval preparations abroad, had really 
brought the issue home to the minds and hearts of the 
masses. 



CHAPTER II 
THE THUNDERBOLT OF WAR 

It is difficult to describe one man's state of mind at a 
time of war-crisis; it is a thousand-fold more difficult to 
analyze the soul of a nation. When that nation or people 
has varied and complex strains of sentiment, when race 
and religion and habits of thought run in oft-times diver- 
gent grooves, when no man or woman born in the land has 
faced invasion or even the danger of it, the problem is still 
more acute. Modern Germany, during those eventful days 
of July and August, 1914, when its rulers were staging, 
directing, and controlling the forces of possible conflict, 
knew what war was in the sense of triumphal progress over 
defeated enemies or prostrate rivals ; Prussia, its most pow- 
erful Kingdom, had over-run Schleswig-Holstein and 
beaten Denmark, smashed Austria and taken over its high 
place amongst Germanic States, crushed France and drawn 
from her rich spoils and great sums of indemnity. 

France during the nineteenth century had faced Russia 
in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, Prussia within her own 
borders ; she knew the glories of victory and the paina of 
defeat; she had for two or three decades been preparing 
for a final settlement of the issue with the iron-clad Power 
which still overshadowed her country, at times dictated her 
foreign policy, compelled her always and everywhere to be 
ready as would a man in the jungle facing a tiger's spring. 
Russia, in its vast territory and teeming population, had 
never been successfully invaded, but it had been at war 
with half the small peoples of Asia, at war with England 
and France,, at war with Japan. Its people did not look 
upon such issues with the horror of less barbaric nations 
and, like Germany in a greater sphere, much of its expansion 

[22] 



THE THUNDERBOLT OF WAR 23 

had followed upon successful war. Austria had struggled 
with various nations in the past century with alternate 
failure and success. It lost much territory in Italy taut 
held Trieste and the Trentino, it was overthrown by Prus- 
sia taut held Poland and Hungary, it took Bosnia and Herze- 
govina tay threat of war, it now expected to acquire Sertaia 
and the dominance of the Balkans in the same way. 

All of these peoples, therefore, knew what war was, what 
victory or defeat meant, what invasion involved. The 
nations within the British Empire were quite different. 
Great Britain had not, since the days of Napoleon, taeen 
seriously threatened with invasion or vitally affected tay 
such distant and passing conflicts as the Crimea, Afghani- 
stan, the Soudan, Egypt, or even South Africa. Its naval 
supremacy had been maintained with unceasing vigilance 
and increasing power tay a wise statecraft which understood 
that the migrating genius of its people, the wide sweep of 
its commerce, the shores of its Empire, lay chiefly along 
the ocean waterways of the world. Australia and New 
Zealand had never in their annals heard the hostile shot of 
an invading enemy and so it had taeen in Canada during a 
hundred years of history, with certain raiding exceptions 
of a trivial nature. South Africa and India were the only 
parts of the Empire which could realize war in its larger 
phases, and the latter country was so vast and varied in 
extent and population that an Indian Mutiny could centre 
at Delhi without taeing appreciataly felt at Calcutta or 
Bomtaay. 

So pronounced was the resulting British ignorance of 
war dangers and war chances that much of the politics and 
journalism, the commercial and financial interest, the moral 
and religious thought of the United Kingdom, were com- 
bined in the maintenance of a Peace formula which pro- 
claimed the inconceivable wickedness, the utter impossi- 
bility, of another great war. The Liberal party was in 
power with an historic policy of protest against all war. 



24 CANADA AT WAR 

an equally historic and intense love of liberty, an unabashed 
hatred of the increasing armaments of continental Europe, 
a practical belief in disarmament and international peace 
which it had shown in the decreased Navy estimates of 
1906-7. The year 1914 opened, in fact, with a speech from 
Mr. Lloyd George which declared this to be a propitious 
period, the most opportune in twenty years, for a recon- 
sideration of the whole question of armaments — with 
German relations described as *' infinitely more friendly 
than they have been for years." 

As the months passed there were no visible signs of 
trouble in the skies or at least none more serious than those 
which the tumultuous Balkans promised to produce at any 
moment. Even the crisis produced by the murder of the 
Austrian Archduke and heir to the throne, at Serajevo on 
June 28, though it sent every ruler and statesman in Europe 
to his post of government in a state of suspense, seemed to 
have passed, or to be passing, when on July 23 it was 
announced that Austria had delivered an Ultimatum to 
Serbia and demanded its absolute acceptance within forty- 
eight hours. The terms were arbitrary and excessive, yet 
the efforts of Serbia to meet them were almost abject and, 
on the advice of Eussia, went so far as was compatible with 
the national independence of the little country ; the refusal 
of Austria to accept anything but the entire claims of the 
Ultimatum was the response. 

This action was so entirely unexpected outside of the 
courts of Vienna and Berlin that the British representa- 
tives were away from Berlin and Belgrade; M. Pashitch, 
the Serbian Premier, and his ministers were electioneering 
and the Russian ambassadors were absent from Vienna, 
Berlin, Paris, and Belgrade ; the President and Prime Min- 
ister of the French Republic were out of France on board 
one of their battle-ships. There followed the brief but 
intense and concentrated efforts of the Powers, other than 
Germany and Austria, to gain time; to ease the situation 




ir.,v <-(Mii-trs,\ ('au.-Hlinu War KtM-nrds. I 

Still " Merry and Bright." Two Canadians From the Front Line Looking 

From Their Little Mud Home in the Trench While Their Chums Are 

Performing Their Toilet Under a Bridge Across the Trench 



THE THUNDERBOLT OF WAR 25 

for Eussia, who was bound by every code of honour and 
obligation to help her weaker racial sister in this hour of 
trial, and for France, who would be compelled by treaty to 
support Russia ; to persuade Germany to influence her ally 
and partner along lines of peace, to hold a Conference of 
Powers interested, to do anything except precipitate or 
permit the tremendous conflict which was imminent. 

Even in Great Britain, therefore, astonishment at the 
suddenness of the issue was at first the dominant sensation, 
the sense of responsibility was to come later when the full 
burden of a struggle involving 1,000,000,000 of people, 
affecting the incalculable total of £40,000,000,000 of national 
wealth and controlling the destinies of the world, probably 
for another century, was borne in upon the public conscious- 
ness. So in Canada, to an even greater degree, was the 
surprise and slowness to grasp the diplomatic situation. 
Indeed, as late as May 18, 1914, the Toronto Globe had 
editorially voiced a large school of thought in the following 
words : * ' The weapons of Armageddon, when it comes, 
will not be carnal but spiritual. The clash will be civiliza- 
tion against civilization, type against type, ideal against 
ideal, character against character. An exclusion law or a 
tariff wall cannot shut out a vital idea. A 14-inch gun and 
a $15,000,000 battle-ship are clumsy and ineffective against 
a philosophy. The man of war is only the policeman who 
survives from the half-barbarous ages ; the truly equipped 
combatant will be the man of mind." 

The shock and shiver which ran through the unprepared 
mind of Canada on August 4 following was natural though 
at first not so deep or universal as in Britain. In the cities 
and populous centres it was keener, the feeling of dread 
greater, the sinking sensation of soul more profound, than 
in village and country. To the political and financial 
leaders — except a few of the highest — it was a vast, 
unexpected catastrophe following upon a vague, unreal, 
preliminary sense of peril; to the ordinary man of fair 
3 



36 CANADA AT WAK 

information and understanding it was as if the solid earth 
had been slightly shaken by a great upheaval of nature ; to 
him the very thought of half the world at war was impos- 
sible. There was a natural fear that the financial fabric of 
civilized nations centering in London would fall with a 
crash ; there was partial realization of the fact that Europe 
was already rumbling with the tramp of ten millions of 
men who might soon be doubled in number; there was 
obvious danger to Canadian and British commerce upon 
the seas of the world from some sudden dash or action by 
the second greatest fleet in existence; the whole situation 
was enough to make the most convinced believer in the 
inevitability of such a conflict face the future with a 
shudder. To the masses of the people, however, all these 
details did not occur at once and, at the beginning of 
things, it seemed more as if some great earthquake had 
taken place thousands of miles away or as though a sweep- 
ing cyclone of vast dimensions had overwhelmed the people 
of a South American State or some other terrible but dis- 
tant cataclysm had occurred. It took time to adjust the 
minds of the masses to the real and closer issue. 

To those with mental vision who understood the issue, 
to those in responsible positions at Ottawa or elsewhere, 
the years of succeeding struggle, the tumultuous ups and 
downs of the World War, the roar of guns in vast and 
ever-increasing size and numbers along a thousand miles 
of front, the casualty lists running up into many millions, 
dulled the earlier sensations of dread and brought relief to 
over-burdened victims of that initial responsibility. But 
few of them could ever forget the day when Britain's 
entrance into the conflict brought Canada into the whirlpool 
of a world-struggle or their first sensations in that terrible 
time. They knew something — and this was inevitably the 
first and most pressing thought — of the delicate financial 
fabric of London; its potent, far-reaching, immense and yet 
minute influence upon conditions in every country of the 



THE THUNDERBOLT OF WAR 27 

Empire and, indeed, of the world; its thousands of millions 
which had been lent to Canada and, through the London 
money-market, touched every hamlet, however remote, 
every settler, however solitary; its vital influence upon the 
United States and other countries under which a collapse 
at the centre would involve panic and ruin in every part 
of this continent and in business circles all around the 
earth. Could Canadian banks stand the strain? Not, it 
was felt, if British banks went doAvn or the gold standard 
was seriously shaken or cash settlements in London perma- 
nently affected. Everything turned upon the financial 
strength and policy of Great Britain and, pending action or 
permanent policy in London, Canadian conditions were for 
the moment chaotic. 

Canadian expressed opinion when the issue was struck 
showed no clear divergence of thought — though the under- 
currents and cross-currents already described were there 
m force. Very few, then or during the succeeding years of 
the war, ran publicly counter to the view of Canada as ^ 
British people and a party to the world issue. The obvious 
duty was to send as many troops as could be obtained, 
eqmpped, trained and transported to Great Britain or the 
scene of conflict; Canadian obligations were felt as those 
of a young, unorganized yet loyal people whose leaders and 
press were convinced that the war was a just one on the 
part of Britain, that it was fought for the protection and 
mamtenance of world-liberties, and that, in a degree which 
grew as the months and years passed, the life of the Empire 
and of British institutions hung in the balance; Canada's 
constitutional and patriotic place was admitted to be with 
the United Kingdom in support of her attitude and policy 
and back of a colossal struggle of Allied Powers against 
the forces of militarism and autocracy. 

The urgency and vastness of the issue appeared for the 
time to swallow up all minor dissension, to obliterate his- 
toric and seemingly fundamental differences of opinion 



38 CANADA AT WAR 

The Pacifist and the Imperialist, the French-Canadian and 
the Western-Canadian, the East and the West, met appar- 
ently upon this common basis of believing the war to be a 
just and unavoidable one so far as Britain was concerned, 
of feeling that when Britain was at war Canada was at 
war, of realizing in some dim and undefined way that it 
was the duty of Canada to support the Mother Country at 
this crisis. The surface expression of thought, therefore, 
rose fully to the occasion, though the instinctive divergence 
of party sentiment made the reasons for Canadian action 
quite different in their nature. 

The Conservative press, as a whole, supported immediate 
aid to the Empire, urged the outstanding loyalty of Canada 
to British institutions and Imperial connection, emphasized 
the many reasons for helping Great Britain in this hour of 
trial, dealt with the possible dangers which menaced the 
United Kingdom itself and Canada as an integral part of 
the Empire. The Liberal press, led by the Toronto Globe, 
clearly enunciated the doctrine that when Britain was at 
war Canada was at war and then passed to the basic point 
that the struggle in Europe was one of autocracy against 
liberty, of the iron ideals of militarism against the demo- 
cratic ideals of universal peace, and to the fact that Can- 
ada's place was beside the champions of freedom. On the 
one hand Canada was declared to be fighting for the Empire 
and National life and, incidentally, for high ideals of peace 
and principles of liberty; on the other hand she was 
described as fighting for the liberties and peace of the 
world and, incidentally, for the British Empire of which 
the Dominion was a part. 

Both parties at first were united in hoping for a non- 
partisan treatment of the great issue; they were one in 
the strongest expressions of loyalty. To the former state- 
ment there was an exception in the tendency of certain 
Conservative papers to revive the Naval controversy and 
to claim that the war was an absolute proof of the accuracy 



THE THUNDEKBOLT OF WAR 29 

of party declarations in 1909 as to the existence of an 
emergency and of the patriotism of the Borden Govern- 
ment proposals to meet it; there was also an exception in 
parts of the Liberal press which argued that militarism in 
all countries was the greatest of evils and that jingoes and 
militarists in Canada were as bad an influence in their way 
as the makers of the German war machine — and that most 
of them were in the Conservative party ! 

War had become imminent at the end of July, and the 
response of Canadian published opinion was prompt. The 
Toronto Globe (Liberal) of July 31 declared that "Canada 
must do her part as an integral portion of the Empire, and 
assuredly must discharge the imperative first duty of self- 
defence. When Britain is at war Canada is at war." On 
August 4 it took a more definite line and one to which it 
consistently adhered afterwards: ** Because it is the 
world's fight for freedom Britain, reluctantly but reso- 
lutely, speaks the word, and Canada also answers Ay.'^ 
The Toronto News (Conservative) of August 1 was clear 
in its views: *'We have to deal with a situation without 
parallel in the world's history. All that we have of courage 
and character may be tested. But if we all resolve to be 
patient and prudent, and loyal, there can be no serious 
disaster, nor any irremediable hardship. Let there be 
co-operation between the political leaders to assist the 
Mother Country. Let there be co-operation to steady mar- 
kets and safe-guard common interests. Let there be a truce 
to Naval controversies, and generous recognition of the 
common loyalty of Canadians to the Empire." 

The Toronto Star (Liberal) of the same day also was 
explicit: ''There can be no question as to Canada's duty 
if the European War goes on. This country must do all it 
can to support the arms of Britain, and there needs to 
be an instant closing up of the ranks and a hearty support 
of the Borden Government in all measures that will be 
taken to meet the situation." The Toronto World (Con- 



30 CANADA AT WAE 

servative) of August 4 urged that Canada contribute not 
less than 50,000 trained men to the Imperial forces and do 
it at once ; at the same time it believed that a home reserve 
of 100,000 men should be organized. The Liberal organ in 
Winnipeg, the Free Press, urged (August 6) that faction 
should cease and declared that the Borden Government 
would have *'the co-operation, sympathy and support" of 
the Opposition in Parliament. In Party comment the Hali- 
fax Herald (Conservative) quoted in its issue of August 1 
from Sir Eobert Borden's warnings of December 5, 1912, 
and especially his conclusion in the Dreadnought speech: 
''But to-day, while the clouds are heavy and we hear the 
booming of the distant thunder, and see the lightning 
flashes above the horizon, we cannot, and we will not, wait 
and deliberate until any impending storm shall have burst 
upon us in fury and disaster." The Montreal Star 
(August 5) took a similar line, mth, also a vigorous attack 
on Pacifists : ' ' The emergency has emerged one year ahead 
of schedule time. The German menace has flashed into a 
German war. The two greatest battle fleets in history are 
facing each other in the North Sea; and there is not a 
Canadian gun-boat — let alone a Dreadnought — with the 
squadrons which are defending the heart of the Empire. 
But Canada is preparing with the utmost enthusiasm and 
loyalty to do what it can. ' ' 

Meanwhile individual opinion had been finding vigorous 
expression. The Montreal Star invited telegraphed opin- 
ions from regimental commanders, senators and members 
of the Commons, political leaders, mayors of cities, etc., 
and published page after page of replies between August 1 
and August 5. The overwhelming majority supported 
immediate contribution of men and money in aid of Great 
Britain. There were a few exceptions and these of a 
political character. Senator Louis Lavergne, for instance, 
on August 3, thought the question premature but declared 
that "if the Borden Government had built the ships 



THE THUNDEEBOLT OF WAR 31 

authorized in 1910 we would be in a good position to pro- 
tect our country and help England in protecting the trans- 
fer of food-stuffs." Senator J. P. B. Casgrain, another 
Liberal, was as explicit on the Canadian Navy subject as 
some Conservatives were on the proposed Dreadnought 
gift of 1912: "My opinion is we should do everything we 
possibly can do ; send men, money, everything, to help the 
Motherland. My only regret is that Borden did not accept 
the tenders for ships when he came into power — if he had 
we should now have nine cruisers, built to plans prepared 
and approved by the British Admiralty, which would have 
been just what they wanted." 

Napoleon Drouin, Mayor of Quebec, declared that "all 
we can do to help the Empire in money, arms, and men 
should be done," and Alphonse Verville, Labour m.p., for 
Maisonneuve, Que., said: "I can quite see that it might 
be necessary in order to protect Canada that the Canadian 
should fight outside his own country. In that event we 
should be prepared to give Great Britain all the assistance 
she needs." P. E. Lamarche, m.p., a Nationalist leader 
from Quebec, declared that "in this case it will be the heart 
of the Empire that is attacked and we must do what we 
can to defend it," while Mederic Martin, m.p., the Mayor 
of Montreal, and a fervent French Canadian, proclaimed 
the war "as much in defence of Canada as of Great Brit- 
ain." Canada's duty was "to aid Great Britain with all 
its strength." To French Canadians he said : "If you are 
needed it is your duty to fight." Senator L. G. Power 
thought Canada should "await developments before under- 
taking to send troops to Europe." Lucien Pacaud, m.p., 
thought Canada's first duty was to look after her own 
defence ; after that to help Great Britain if necessary. Out 
of sixty mayors of towns and cities only two were not in 
favour of instant aid in men and money to Britain. Of 
these two Noe Tanguay, Thetford Mines, Ont., thought that 
on this and all similar occasions "the noblest dutv of Can- 



32 CANADA AT WAK 

ada is to stick to the soil and work for all it can produce ; ' * 
F. Lachance, St. Boniface, Man., declared that ''whatever 
military force Canada has at its disposal should be pre- 
pared to protect our Dominion." 

Liberal leaders used expressions of vigorous loyalty. 
E. M. Macdonald, m.p., declared on August 3 that if war 
came and aid was required "Canada should promptly 
assist England whole heartedly." P. B. Carvell, m.p., 
stated that Canada "should contribute everything in her 
power both in men and money, and Parliament should be 
immediately called together for the purpose of voting all 
necessary funds." Others were equally explicit. The Hon. 
Frank Oliver, m.p., declared that: "Britain must be sup- 
ported to the last limit in standing by her allies. Britain 
has men, money and ships in abundance. Food supply is 
her vulnerable point. Besides sending volunteers to 
Europe as evidence of good-will, Canada's most needed 
service is to maintain normal conditions of trade, finance 
and order, on and within her shores, so that adequate food 
supplies may be produced and sent forward." Senator 
Hewitt Bostock stated that in the event of Great Britain 
becoming involved "Canada would be with her and sup- 
port her with all the means in her power." The Hon. 
George P. Graham declared that ' ' should the hour of Brit- 
ain 's trial-time arrive, drawn by the enduring ties of 
affection and impelled by the instinct of self-preservation, 
Canada will be found at her side." At a meeting in Eaw- 
don, Quebec, on August 3, the Hon. R. Lemieux, m.p., said : 
"What is to be done by Canada if the Motherland is 
involved, as seems quite possible ? Canada being an integ- 
ral part of the British Empire, is certainly at war when 
the Empire is at war. The reason for our help is that the 
British flag is our flag, and because it protects our rights, 
our liberties and everything that is dear and sacred in this 
free land. We should rally as one man to the defence, first 
of our coasts and then of the great Empire to which we 



THE THUNDEKBOLT OF WAR 33 

belong." Sir Wilfrid Laurier arrived in Ottawa on 
August 4 and at once issued this statement : 

We all hope and pray that the effort of Sir 
Edward Grey may yet be successful in persuading 
the nations of the Continent to the restoration of 
peace. I confess that the prospects are very doubt- 
ful. It is probable and almost certain that Eng- 
land will have to take her share in the conflict not 
only for the protection of her own interests, but 
for the protection of France and the higher civili- 
zation of which these two nations are to-day the 
noblest expression. The policy of the Liberal 
party under such painful circumstances is well 
known. I have often declared that if the Mother 
Country were ever in danger, or if danger ever 
threatened, Canada would render assistance to the 
fullest extent of her power. In view of the critical 
nature of the situation I have cancelled all my 
meetings. Pending such great questions there 
should be a truce to party strife. 

As to the people in general there were many demonstra- 
tions of loyalty and patriotism. In Montreal on August 1 
and August 3 huge crowds paraded the streets carrying 
French and British flags, singing songs such as La Mar- 
seillaise and Eule Britannia, cheering speakers and watch- 
ing the bulletins, filling the picture theatres with 
enthusiastic noise and, by the latter date, sending 5,000 
French and Belgian reservists to their respective Con- 
sulates in response to the demands of national mobilization. 
In Toronto there was not very great enthusiasm. People 
seemed to be burdened with a sense of the awful nature of 
the event ; the crowds were there but, with exceptions such 
as the scene when Britain's war declaration was flashed on 
the bulletin boards, the subject was taken very soberly and 
quietly. 

Winnipeg witnessed far more stirring spectacles when 
once the early tension of anxiety was over and the issue 
settled for the moment. Public feeling showed itself in 
varied forms of enthusiasm with an afterwards proven 



34 CANADA AT WAR 

statement in The Telegram of August 6: *'The men who 
have cheered the loudest will be among the first to offer 
their services." Impromptu parades, waving flags, deco- 
rated automobiles, cheering crowds, patriotic speeches — 
all the conditions incident to a Western populace face to 
face with a great event — were visible in those strenuous 
days. So it was on the night of August 4 in Edmonton, 
Eegina, Lethbridge, Calgary, Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat, 
Vancouver, Victoria and hundreds of smaller centres. At 
Quebec English and French and Irish paraded together in 
an outburst of combined patriotism and listened to a speech 
in which Albert Sevigny, m.p., declared that: *' England 
has risen to the occasion. We will go into this struggle of 
giants with a united front." At Ottawa, in London, St. 
John and Halifax, there were similar demonstrations. The 
strains of **Kule Britannia" rang through Canada from 
ocean to ocean in a way, and with a feeling, which had never 
been known in Canadian history; the British Navy was, 
indeed, coming into its own. 

This loudly expressed war-feeling soon passed; it was, 
in any case, only an exhibition of patriotism; it nowhere 
represented the basic thought of intelligent Canadians. 
To them, and in the ordinary conversation of thinking men, 
the war was an awful shadow creeping over the land, 
threatening to darken the scene with death and disaster, 
holding untold possibilities of evil within its sphere. Its 
effect upon the financial situation was first and most imme- 
diate in importance. After that the possibility of the Brit- 
ish fleets being able to bottle up or hold the great naval 
machine of Germany in the North Sea; the question, turn- 
ing upon this, of the safety of Canadian ocean-borne 
commerce totalling $500,000,000 and of 10,000 British or 
Canadian ships reaching Canada yearly with a tonnage 
of 10,500,000; the problem clearly visible in United States 
relationship and the Eepublic's nine million Teuton popu- 
lation and other anti-British elements; the less-kno'^^m but 



THE THUNDEEBOLT OF WAR 35 

very real troubles which might come from the German 
population in the Canadian West — all these and various 
local issues were in the hearts of many. 

A small number of Canadians thought chiefly of the 
infinitely greater perils facing the Mother land, feared and 
yet hoped in the supremacy of the Navy, wondered what 
would be the fate of Britain's tiny military force when, in 
union with France and little Belgimn, it met the rolling 
might of German armies. To those who understood the 
situation, and at first they were in a small minority, that 
great German machine of 5,000,000 trained, disciplined and 
well-armed soldiers seemed lil^ely to plough its way through 
every obstacle to Paris and Calais. Then, if the Navy 
failed her, God help England, and after her Canada ! But 
the large majority of Canadians were optimistic and trusted 
in the undefined greatness of Britain, the silent strength of 
her Navy, the slow but sure action of Kussia, the resisting 
power of France. Others were quietly indifferent and 
afterwards, in recruiting crises, made up the apathetic 
masses whom it was so hard to move. To the optimist and 
the man who said in his heart that this was not Canada's 
war, to the patriot and the incipient shirker alike, the first 
feeling was that Canada was safe; that there could only 
be one end to the struggle and that end was victory for the 
British Allies. With such a feeling and such hopes they 
strove to overcome the shadow of war, to put aside deep 
thought upon the tremendous issues involved, to leave 
action in the hands of the Government, to have business go 
on as usual. 



CHAPTER III 

MEETING A CRISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 

While every resource in British diplomacy was being 
strained to avert the final issue of war, and the British 
fleet, which had been manoeuvering in the North Sea, stood 
practically mobilized for battle; while Europe was pre- 
paring for the worst and the financial situation at London 
was becoming more and more critical and unpleasant ; the 
various Governments of the British Empire were kept in 
touch with existing conditions, and, as the end approached, 
loyal despatches proffering aid poured into Downing Street 
from all around the world — Canada being one of the first 
to proffer loyal support and active aid. To Great Brit- 
ain there were three vital points of policy and preparation 
at this juncture and each of them affected, though in dif- 
fering degrees, the situation of every Canadian and Aus- 
tralian, or British subject anywhere, under the flag. The 
first was the Naval situation and that was believed to be 
satisfactory through the readiness of the Fleet ; the second 
was the military situation and that, obviously, had to wait 
upon international events ; the third was the financial con- 
dition with its chances of a vast collapse in the world's 
system of credit and commerce and the consequent destruc- 
tion of Britain's dominance. 

In the beginning, as the war-clouds grew black on the 
horizon, the delicate financial fabric which centred in Lon- 
don had begun to waver, the market for securities became 
demoralized^ conditions changed from depression to one 
verging on panic, liquidation of securities to an unprece- 
dented extent — caused in large measure by the sale of 
German-held stocks — proceeded. During the ten days in 
which this stock liquidation occurred (July 20-30, 1914) 
there was a total depreciation, according to the London 

[36] 



MEETING A CRISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 37 

Bankers' Magazine, of $940,000,000 on 387 representative 
securities valued at $16,000,000,000. On July 30 the Bank 
of England raised its rate from 3 to 4 per cent, the Bank of 
France from 3^ to 4^^, the Bank of Belgium from 4 to 5 
per cent. On the morning of the 31st, the London rate 
went up to 8 per cent; and it was decided not to open the 
Stock Exchange ; on the next day the Bank of England rate 
rose to 10 per cent. Press writers of the moment described, 
with more panic than accuracy, the world's entire system 
of credit as having broken down and the closing of all the 
chief stock exchanges in the world seemed to emphasize 
the statement. At the banks in London there was consid- 
erable demand for gold and crowds waited outside the 
Bank of England, but there was no rush, in the sense of a 
panic, though there was in London, as elsewhere in the 
world's centres, a tense, strained anxiety that was posi- 
tively painful. Sterling exchange was practically sus- 
pended, all European bank rates advanced to highest 
possible points, the Bank Holiday of Monday, August 3, in 
London, was extended for three days, a temporary mora- 
torium as to cash settlements was announced on August 2, 
and was extended by legislation to many lines of finance on 
the 6th — two days after war had commenced. 

By this time, however, the readjustment was underway, 
the cool, methodical British mind was beginning to arrange 
matters to suit a new and unprecedented situation, Mr. 
Lloyd George, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (August 5), 
summoned a Conference of leading bankers, financiers, and 
manufacturers and stated publicly that there was no fail- 
ure of credit though some of the existing machinery had 
broken down and that, as five pound notes were not easily 
convertible into gold, the Government would issue one 
pound notes and ten shilling notes obtainable at the Bank 
of England — and this money went into circulation to an 
eventual total of $50,000,000; postal orders were made legal 
tender on the same terms and also replaced five pound 



38 CANADA AT WAR 

notes, or gold, for jpayment by the Savings Banks. The 
Bank of England rate on the same day went down to 6 per 
cent and soon thereafter became normal. The Government 
undertook to guarantee war-risks on wheat and flour 
shipped from Canada or the United States under existing 
contracts. On August 31 the moratorium was extended 
until October 4 and then to November 4, when it quietly 
disappeared. 

During this period the whole policy of the British Gov- 
ernment, in dealing with the financial situation, was wise, 
shrewd, far-seeing, and far-reaching. Mr. Lloyd George, 
whether through instinctive capacity or the wisdom which 
knows where to get and how to use the right advice, proved 
himself a great Finance Minister. At a moment when 
British and, indeed, world finance and commerce were 
threatened with collapse the Chancellor had arranged that 
the Government, or in other words Great Britain, should 
guarantee the Bank of England against any loss incurred 
in the discounting of approved bills of exchange of all 
nations accepted prior to August 4. The liability was an 
immense one to assume at that early stage of the struggle, 
and was estimated by the Chancellor on November 27, fol- 
lowing, at $1,750,000,000. As time went on, of course, such 
figures, all historic or precedent figures in finance, as in 
war materials and in armies, were dwarfed in the immensi- 
ties of the struggle. 

In Canada the initial actions of the Borden Government 
were swift and successful. During the tense days preced- 
ing the final momentous decision the Duke of Connaught, 
as Governor-General, and Sir Kobert Borden, as Premier 
and Minister of External Affairs, had been kept fully 
advised of the general situation though not as to all the 
delicate details of negotiation. His Eoyal Highness, the 
Governor-General, was away in the West — at Banjff in 
the Rocky Mountains — and did not get back to Ottawa 
until the morning of the eventful 4th of August ; despatches 



MEETING A CRISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 39 

reaching him from the Colonial Secretary at London were, 
however, wired back to the Government at the capital and 
preparations for eventualities were kept underway. The 
Prime Minister was also in constant communication by 
cable with Mr. G. H. Perley, acting High Commissioner, 
who, in turn, was in close touch with the British Govern- 
ment and with current diplomatic action and interchanges. 
As early as July 29 Ottawa correspondents of Government 
newspapers discussed the Imperial responsibilities and 
duty of Canada in the event of war. On the 30th official 
news of a serious nature arrived at Ottawa and Colonel 
Hughes, Minister of Militia, came hastily from his home at 
Lindsay ; announcements appeared in the press that Cana- 
dian participation in the pending struggle — with infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery — was assured ; a special meeting of 
the Militia Council was held and the statement issued that a 
first contingent of 20,000 or 25,000 men would be arranged 
and preparations be at once proceeded with; the Ottawa 
Journal pointed out the serious nature of the crisis and 
declared it *'an axiom accepted by both political parties" 
that Canada was at war when the Empire was at war. 

On the 31st, when war was still trembling in the balance, 
with the Great Powers in the last stages of diplomatic con- 
flict and preliminary stages of military preparation, the 
Government issued an order from Ottawa bidding H.M.C.S. 
Rainhoiv to cancel a pending trip to Behring Sea and to 
remain in the vicinity of Victoria and Vancouver; the 
Prime Minister passed through Toronto on his way home 
from the Muskoka Lakes and told The Globe that the situa- 
tion was "grave and serious '*, while the same paper had a 
despatch from Ottawa stating that there were not enough 
properly-trained officers and general equipment in Canada 
for more than 20,000 men. Sir Robert Borden reached 
Ottawa on August 1 and held almost continuous consulta- 
tions then, and on Sunday (the 2nd), with the ministers in 
town, for the settlement of details in preparation and the 



40 CANADA AT WAR 

exchange of frequent cable messages with the Imperial 
Grovernment. Some of the ministers were still in the West 
or scattered elsewhere for summer trips, but all were rush- 
ing homewards. A special Gazette on the 3rd announced 
the British calling out of Koyal Naval Eeserves and the 
duty of those living in Canada ; Sir George E. Foster aban- 
doned his work on the Dominions' Trade Commission and 
arrived in Ottawa; French soil was invaded by German 
troops and Eussia and Germany were already at war ; the 
Canadian Government was warned of the presence of Ger- 
man cruisers in North American waters; and Sir Richard 
McBride, Premier of British Columbia, rushed through a 
purchase of two Submarines at Seattle. On August 4 the 
Canadian and other Dominion or Colonial Governments 
were advised by cable from Mr. Harcourt, Colonial Secre- 
tary, that * ' all legislative and other steps to enable the tak- 
ing of prompt action, if required, should be taken". A few 
hours later the great War had commenced. Meanwhile, on 
August 1, when the danger had become obvious and immi- 
nent to all who were in touch with the situation, the 
Governor-General, after communication with his Ministers, 
had sent the two following despatches to the Secretary of 
State for the Colonies : 

I. In view of the impending danger of war 
involving the Empire my Advisers are anxiously 
considering the most effective means of rendering 
every possible aid and they will welcome any sug- 
gestions and advice which Imperial Naval and 
Military authorities may deem it expedient to 
offer. They are confident that a considerable 
force w^ould be available for service abroad. A 
question has been mooted respecting the status of 
any Canadian force serving abroad as under Sec- 
tion 69 of the Canadian Militia Act the active 
Militia can only be placed on active service beyond 
Canada for the defence thereof. It has been sug- 
gested that regiments might enlist as Imperial 
troops for stated period, Canadian Government 
undertaking to make all necessary financial provi- 



MEETING A CKISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 41 

sion for their equipment, pay and maintenance. 
This proposal has not yet been maturely consid- 
ered here and my Advisers would be glad to have 
views of Imperial Government thereon. 

II. My Advisers, while expressing their most 
earnest hope that peaceful solution of existing 
international difficulties may be achieved and their 
strong desire to co-operate in every possible way 
for that purpose, wish me to convey to His 
Majesty's Government the firm assurance that if 
unhappily war should ensue the Canadian people 
will be united in a common resolve to put forth 
every sacrifice necessary to ensure the integrity 
and maintain the honour of our Empire. 

Mr. Harcourt replied with a grateful expression of 
thanks and a promise to take up details as soon as the sit- 
uation became settled ; similar offers poured in from Aus- 
tralia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and all parts of 
the British world ; on August 4, following upon the declara- 
tion of war, H.M. the King sent to Canada and other parts 
of the Empire the following despatch : ' ' I desire to express 
to my people of the Overseas Dominions with what appre- 
ciation and pride I have received the messages from their 
respective Governments during the last few days. These 
spontaneous assurances of their fullest support recalled to 
me the generous self-sacrificing help given by them in the 
past to the Mother-countrj^ I shall be strengthened in the 
discharge of the great responsibilities which rest upon me 
by the confident belief that in this time of trial my Empire 
will stand united, calm, resolute, trusting in God." 

In reply H.R.H. the Governor-General sent the following 
despatch: "In the name of the Dominion of Canada, I 
humbly thank Your Majesty for your gracious message of 
approval. Canada stands united from the Pacific to the 
Atlantic in her determination to uphold the honour and 
traditions of our Empire." On August 5 the vast conflict 
had commenced and on the 6th Mr. Harcourt cabled to the 
Governor-General at Ottawa that: "His Majesty's Gov- 



43 CANADA AT WAR 

ernment gratefully accepts offer of your Ministers to send 
Expeditionary Force to this country and would be glad if 
it could be despatched as soon as possible." The compo- 
sition suggested on the following day was one Division of 
about 22,500 men, which compared favourably with the 
expected British expedition to France of 100,000 or so. On 
the 12th it v/as requested, in reply to Canadian Government 
inquiries, that army reservists be sent home at the first 
opportunity. 

Meantime the Government had made provision (August 
3) to meet a threatened financial crisis in Canada by author- 
izing the Minister of Finance (1) to issue Dominion Notes 
to such an amount as might be necessary against such 
securities as might be deposited by the Banks and approved 
by the Minister of Finance; (2) authorizing the chartered 
banks to make payment in bank notes instead of in gold or 
Dominion notes until further official announcement; (3) 
permitting the banks to issue from date excess circulation 
to amounts not exceeding 15 per cent of the combined, unim- 
paired capital and reserve fund of each institution. In 
this connection four leading Canadian bankers, D. R. Wil- 
kie. Sir Edmund Walker, Sir F. Williams-Taylor and E. L. 
Pease, had been in consultation at Ottawa with Hon. W. T. 
White, the Minister of Finance. Mr. White 's action at this 
crisis saved the financial situation in Canada, averted a 
threatened run on the Banks, and practically restored con- 
fidence to the whole trembling fabric of Canadian credit. 

The action of the Minister of Militia was equally prompt 
and efficient. When war threatened, and then broke out. 
Colonel Sam Hughes took charge with a vim and in a 
fighting, aggressive way characteristic of the man. He 
organized and worked and travelled and spoke in every 
direction. On July 30 without a moment's hesitation, or 
the calling of Parliament or even a meeting of the Cabinet, 
he had hurried to Ottawa and held an emergency meeting 
of the Militia Council — Col. E. Fiset, d.s.o., Deputy Min- 



MEETING A CKISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 43 

ister ; CoL W. G. Gwatkin, Chief of the General Staff ; CoL 
V. A. S. Williams, a.d.c., Adjutant- General; Major-Gen. 
D. A. Macdonald, c.m.g., i.s.o., Quartermaster-General — 
which was also attended by Lieut.-Col. E. W. B. Morrison, 
D.S.O., Director of Artillery, and Col. H. Smith, Judge 
Advocate-General. It was at once announced, with the 
approval of the Governor-General and Prime Minister, tha,t 
a First Contingent of at least 20,000 men would be sent if 
war actually came. 

Offers of aid poured in from all parts of the country 
with officers, men and whole regiments volunteering for 
active service ; by the time war was declared a considerable 
force was already assured; within a week after British 
acceptance of the First Contingent a great new Camp, with 
every modern facility and improvement, was under con- 
struction at Valcartier near Quebec ; by August 29 detach- 
ments of troops were on their way thither from all parts 
of the Dominion, the bustle of military preparation was 
visible everywhere, and, in less than three weeks from the 
plunging of an unprepared people into an unexpected war, 
more than an Army Division was in training outside 
Quebec, Canadian manufacturers were rushing work upon 
equipment and even the construction of shells and muni- 
tions was under way. On September 22, at an initial 
expenditure of $20,000,000, the First Contingent of 32,000 
men sailed in silence and secresy down the St. Lawrence 
to the sea, where great British battleships convoyed them 
to England's shores. 

Meantime, varied and prompt action had been taken by 
the Government in various directions. As a result of sug- 
gestions presented early in the year by Sir Joseph Pope, 
Under-Secretary for External Affairs, and following the 
lines of recommendations made by the Colonial Secretary 
in 1913, the Departments of the Government had been 
organized under a general plan to meet such an emergency 
as now arose and it was found that each Department fell 



44 CANADA AT WAR 

» 
naturally and easily into its proper place in the new and 
critical work laid upon it, that they all worked smoothly 
and in systematized style, while the net operations were 
along lines similar to those taken in other parts of the 
Empire. Events moved rapidly. Prior to the actual 
declaration of war the two Canadian training cruisers, 
Niohe and Rainbow, and a little later the British Columbia 
submarines, were placed at the disposition of the Admi- 
ralty, while the small Naval Volunteer force was summoned 
for active service; immediately after the issue was called 
troops were ordered to guard the Welland Canal and 
Parliament was summoned for August 18th. 

On August 5 the Cabinet sat in almost continuous session 
and issued all kinds of Orders-in-Council associated with 
the state of war into which the country and Empire were 
plunged. An official Memorandum issued from Ottawa at 
the close of that day said: "Action has been taken and 
is being taken by the Government in every available way 
and by every available means, to meet the present situation. 
They are in constant communication with the Imperial 
authorities. The necessary legislation to be submitted to 
Parliament at the approaching session is being prepared 
as speedily as possible so that there may be no delay after 
Parliament meets. Many important and necessary steps 
which have been taken by the Government will require 
ratification by Parliament. The Government is proceed- 
ing on the principle that such steps should be taken with- 
out waiting one moment for strict legal authority, and that 
any necessary ratification therefor should be procured 
afterwards from Parliament." The Duke of Connaught 
had attended the morning sitting of the Cabinet and 
in the afternoon received the Opposition Leader in a 
brief conference — following upon Sir Wilfrid Laurier's 
announcement that partisan action and conflict would be 
abandoned. 



MEETING A CRISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 45 

Precautions were taken by the Government to censor all 
cable and wireless messages, and during the early, critical 
days of the War the process was very strict ; careful over- 
sight, also, was kept of those who were suspected of being 
German agents or spies. German and Austrian Consuls 
were ordered to leave the country at once. On August 6 
the Governor-General sent the following despatch to the 
Colonial Secretary: *'My Advisers request me to inform 
you that the people of Canada through their Government 
desire to offer 1,000,000 bags of flour of 98 pounds each 
as a gift to the people of the United Kingdom to be placed 
at the disposal of His Majesty's Government and to be 
used for such purposes as they may deem expedient." The 
Imperial Government accepted *'with deep gratitude the 
splendid and welcome gift", and stated (August 7) that 
it would be of ''the greatest use for steadying prices and 
relief of distress". As to the rest "we can never forget 
the generosity and promptitude of this gift and the patriot- 
ism from which it springs". The cost of the flour was esti- 
mated in the press at $3,000,000, requiring 200 trains of 
30 cars each to carry it to the port of shipment and a small 
fleet of vessels to carry it across the Atlantic. 

Amongst the Orders-in-Council and Royal proclamations 
issued during the first four days of war one dealt elabor- 
ately with the retention of enemy ships in Canadian waters ; 
another prohibited the exportation to all foreign ports in 
Europe and on the Mediterranean and Black Sea — with 
the exception of France, Russia (except the Baltic ports), 
Spain and Portugal — of a long series of articles asso- 
ciated with War construction and Army or Medical sup- 
plies, etc. ; another forbade (by proclamation of the King) 
any British subject during the War 'Ho contribute to or 
participate in, or assist in floating of any loan" raised by 
the German Emperor or his Government or "otherwise to 
aid, abet or assist the said Emperor or Government" and 
defined such acts as treasonable and those concerned as 



46 CANADA AT WAE 

traitors liable to ''the utmost rigour of the law"; a simi- 
lar Proclamation warned all British subjects in British 
Dominions against trading with the German Empire or 
persons in that Empire, either by purchase or sale of mer- 
chandise, the use of any British ship for such purpose, the 
contract of any kind of insurance or entry into any new 
commercial, financial or other obligation, with the enemy. 

An Order-in-Council on August 7 dealt with German 
aliens living in Canada, while other Orders or Proclama- 
tions provided for the establishment of British Prize Court 
rules and orders of procedure and practice and for the 
further extension of the prohibition of exports to countries 
other than the British Empire, so as to include arms of 
ail kinds, projectiles, powder and explosives, gun mount- 
ings, etc., petrolemn and its products, animals suitable for 
war-use, cotton for explosives, oils of certain kinds, surg- 
ical dressings, etc., military clothing and equipment, imple- 
ments, etc., for the manufacture or repair of war material, 
coal — the last item being afterwards changed to exclude 
Denmark, Norway and Sweden. When the formal outbreak 
of war with Austria-Hungary took place on August 12, and 
later on with Turkey and Bulgaria, identical Orders and 
Proclamations were issued to apply to those countries. 

Meantime the Prime Minister had been in close touch 
with Mr. Perley, Acting Commissioner in London and Min- 
ister without Portfolio. Mr. Perley cabled on August 5 
and following days, full details of the British Government's 
shipping insurance plan, the moratorium enactment and 
its later extensions, with brief particulars of the various 
Proclamations rendered necessary by War conditions. On 
the 6th Sir Robert Borden cabled as follows: "Informed 
large number of Canadians in United Kingdom and Europe 
unable to use letters of credit or otherwise obtain funds for 
passage home. If this information correct and if you deem 
it advisable Government prepared to establish credit of 
£20,000 in London to be paid out upon such security and 



MEETING A CEISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 47 

conditions as you may deem proper." Mr. Perley replied 
on the 7th that the Banks had reopened and that no diffi- 
culty then existed in cashing letters of credit. The position 
on the Continent had also improved. On the 8th Mr. Perley 
wired: *'Have brought to attention Government difficulty 
financing food shipments from Canada. Will also discuss 
same with Bank of England directors Monday. Financial 
conditions here much easier. New issue small bank notes 
well received. All banks open yesterday doing business in 
ordinary way after four successive Bank holidays. Am 
informed in many cases deposits yesterday larger than 
withdrawals. ' ' 

Canada's Parliament met in the first War session of 
its history on August 18. Under grey skies, with grave 
and serious demeanour, and troops clad in khaki, the mem- 
bers gathered to listen to a Governor-General's Speech 
from the Throne which dealt exclusively with War issues, 
announced the past and present and proposed policy of 
the Government in this connection, and referred to ques- 
tions which were echoing back from the shores of France 
where "British troops had just landed and from the fields 
of Belgium where the great German war-machine was 
beginning to sweep forward on its road to Paris. The 
Duke of Connaught was accompanied by the Duchess and 
Princes Patricia, and in his Speech stated that *'very grave 
events vitally affecting the interests of all His Majesty's 
Dominions have transpired since prorogation. The unfor- 
tunate outbreak of v/ar made it immediately imperative 
for my Ministers to take extraordinary measures for the 
defence of Canada and for the maintenance of the honour 
and integrity of our Empire". Legislation was promised 
along these lines and a high tribute paid to Canadian 
sentiment and action. 

During the brief debate on the Address Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier, as Opposition leader, made a short, studied, yet 
eloquent statement of the situation, of the necessity for 



-i 



48 CANADA AT WAR 

waiving formalities, for avoiding partisanship, for meet- 
ing and dealing with the stupendous struggle just begin- 
ning, as united, loyal Canadians and British subjects: 
*' Speaking for those who sit around me, speaking for the 
wide constituencies which we represent in this House, I 
hasten to say that to all these measures we are prepared 
to give immediate assent. If in what has been done, or 
what remains to be done, there may be anything which in 
our judgment should not be done or should be differently 
done, we raise no question, we take no exception, we offer 
no criticism, and shall offer no criticism so long as there 
is danger at the Front." Sir Edward Grey, he declared, 
had done his utmost to preserve peace: "Sir, it will go 
down on a still nobler page of history that England could 
have averted this war if she had been willing to forego the 
position which she has maintained for many centuries at 
the head of European civilization ; if she had been willing 
to desert her allies, to sacrifice her obligations, to allow 
the German Emperor to bully heroic Belgium, to trample 
upon defenceless Luxembourg, to rush upon isolated 
France, and to put down his booted heel upon continental 
Europe." A brilliant eulogy of the Belgian people fol- 
lowed and Sir Wilfrid's peroration described hope that 
**from this painful war the British Empire will emerge 
with a new bond of union, the pride of all its citizens, and 
a living light to all other nations". 

Sir Eobert Borden commenced his speech with words of 
appreciation for the patriotic phrases of his opponent, and 
then passed into a careful, analytical study of the causes 
of the War and the position of the British Government. 
He reviewed, briefly, the action of the Canadian Govern- 
ment during the critical days before and after August 4, 
laid some of the official correspondence with the Imperial 
Government before the House, stated that "the men of 
Canada who are going to the Front are going as free men 
by voluntary enlistment — as free men in a free country 



>> 



MEETING A CEISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 49 

and alluded to the Eoyal Navy, its splendid organization 
and effectiveness. His final words were eloquent: *'In 
the awful dawn of the greatest war the world has ever 
known, in the hour when peril confronts us such as this 
Empire has not faced for a hundred years, every vain or 
unnecessary word seems a discord. As to our duty, all are 
agreed; we stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain and 
the other British Dominions in this quarrel. And that duty 
we shall not fail to fulfil as the honour of Canada demands. 
Not for love of battle, not for love of conquest, not for 
greed of possessions, but for the cause of honour, to main- 
tain solemn pledges, to uphold principles of liberty, to 
withstand forces that would convert the world into an 
armed camp; yea, in the very name of the peace that we 
sought at any cost save that of dishonour." 

Mr. Doherty, Minister of Justice, then moved Eesolu- 
tions, afterward put into legislation and passed, which 
confirmed recent Order s-in-Council and Proclamations and 
granted wide powers as to the future control of affairs 
during the time of war. On the 30th Mr. White, Minister 
of Finance, offered his War budget in a brief speech which 
described the marked decline in revenue during the past 
four months of over $10,000,000, accompanied, however, 
by improvement in financial and commercial conditions at 
the end of July and a favourable outlook which the War, 
of course, had changed. He referred to the recent and 
immense shock to international finance, the general loss of 
confidence and demand for gold, the throwing upon the 
market of huge volumes of securities for sale at any price, 
the losses to individuals and drainage of gold from great 
financial centres, the individual hoarding of gold which 
followed the widespread suspension of specie payments, 
the brief collapse of commerce (before the British Navy 
asserted its supremacy), the closing of the world's bourses 
and stock exchanges. After giving certain details he stated 
that a total of $43,500,000 above the estimated revenue of 



50 CANADA AT WAR 

$135,000,000 would be required to meet capital and war 
expenditures and a maturing loan of $8,000,000 up to the 
close of the fiscal year of March 31, 1915. Various tariff 
and excise changes along the lines of special taxation were 
also detailed, covering many subjects but most largely 
affecting coffee, sugar, spirits, and tobacco. 

In the House, on August 21, the Prime Minister pre- 
sented his Bill for granting $50,000,000 for (a) the defence 
and security of Canada; (b) the conduct of naval and mili- 
tary operations in or beyond Canada; (c) promoting the 
continuance of trade, industry and business communica- 
tions whether by means of insurance or indemnity against 
war risk or otherwise; and (d) the carrying out of any 
measures deemed necessary or advisable by the Governor- 
in- Council in consequence of the existence of a state of 
war. He explained that the Division now being organized 
was to consist of 22,318 men; that the total cost of equip- 
ment, pay and maintenance was about $1,000 per man; 
that the total upon this basis for mobilization and general 
defence expenses to March 31, 1915, would be $30,000,000. 
This measure, as with other war legislation, passed the 
House unanimously. A Finance Bill presented by Mr. 
White authorized (1) the making of advances to Chartered 
banks by the issue of Dominion notes upon the pledge of 
approved securities deposited with the Minister of Finance ; 
(2) authorized the payment by. Chartered banks of their 
own or other bank notes as legal tender; (3) authorized 
a special excess circulation not exceeding 15 per cent of 
the combined unimpaired capital and reserve funds of the 
Chartered banks ; (4) suspended the redemption in gold of 
Dominion notes; (5) authorized the proclamation, if deemed 
necessary, of a moratorium or postponement of payment 
of all debts, obligations and liabilities under specific con- 
ditions. Another Act respecting Dominion notes and con- 
firming a $20,000,000 increase in their issue was also passed 
without exception being taken. Other important measures 



MEETING A CRISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 51 

were passed with unanimity and despatch. That called 
the War Measure Act gave large powers to the Govern- 
ment, including: 

(1) Censorship and the control and suppression 
of publications, writings, maps, plans, photo- 
graphs, communications ; 

(2) Arrest, detention, exclusion and deporta- 
tion; 

(3) Control of the harbours, ports and terri- 
torial waters of Canada and the movements of 
vessels ; 

(4) Transportation by land, air and water and 
the control of the transport of persons and things ; 

(5) Trading, exportation, importation, produc- 
tion and manufacture; 

(6) Appropriation, control, forfeiture and dis- 
position of property and of the use thereof. 

The Inmiigration Act was also amended so as to give 
control over residents of Canada, whether aliens or citi- 
zens, who should leave Canada to aid or abet the enemy 
and then attempt to return. The Canadian Patriotic Fund 
was established with a large number of representative men 
as incorporators, and with the following statement : ' ' The 
objects of the Corporation shall be to collect, administer, 
and distribute the fund hereinbefore mentioned for the 
assistance in case of need of the wives, children and depend- 
ent relations of officers and men, residents in Canada who, 
during the present War, may be on active service with the 
naval and military forces of the British Empire and Great 
Britain's allies." Then came the close of a memorable 
four days' Session (August 22) marked with words of 
spontaneous patriotism which stamped the general senti- 
ment of Parliament and reached a high level of thought. 

If the policy of the Government at this crisis was lofty 
in tone and effective in practice, the co-operation of the 
Opposition was also patriotic and efficient. Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier's proposal at the outbreak of war and his attitude 
during the War Session of Parliament involved the elimi- 



52 CANADA AT WAR 

nation of party and full support to the Government. Noth- 
ing official was said as to Coalition though all the evidence 
points to a Liberal willingness at that time to join in a 
responsible administration of the nation's resources for 
purposes of war. In Toronto on September 12 Sir Wilfrid 
eulogized the superiority of British institutions, referred 
to the courage of Great Britain in granting political free- 
dom to South Africa and preparing the way for liberty in 
India, spoke of Britain as the one Power in Europe which 
trusted to voluntary armies and declared that as a result 
of this war ' ' the nations will take an example from Britain 
and do away with militarism, conscription and enforced 
military service, and rely on the good-will of the people to 
supply all the soldiers they want". There also would be a 
full vindication of the principle that "in national life as 
well as private life contracts are made to be observed, and 
woe to those who break them". In other speeches at this 
time he took a similar stand. Other Liberal leaders — 
notably Mr. Lemieux in Quebec and Mr. Graham in Ontario 
— were strenuous in their personal support of Britain at 
this crisis, in their pledge of the nation's aid to the Empire, 
in their belief as to the justice and necessity of Britain's 
war-policy. The Toronto Globe (August 26) urged a war- 
budget of 100 rather than of 50 million dollars and a call 
for 100,000 men rather than 20,000; the Toronto Star, the 
Montreal Herald, the Manitoba Free Press and other Lib- 
eral organs gave unqualified support to Britain and her 
Allies, to Canada's participation in the conflict. 

Taken in a wide, sweeping view of the situation, looked 
back upon in the light of history-making events which fol- 
lowed and in the strain and stress of that new and pre- 
liminary period of war, Canada's Government and the 
leaders of politics, thought, commerce and industry deserve 
great praise ; the Canadian people as a whole deserve appre- 
ciation for many things which they did and for others which 



MEETING A CRISIS OF NATIONAL LIFE 53 

they did not do. It was all so new, so strenuous, so differ- 
ent from anything in past experience. During the first 
months of war, also, selfishness had not had time to develop, 
the enormous inflow of money for munitions had not com- 
menced, the response to recruiting appeals was still a spon- 
taneous, patriotic action, public opinion was yet in sus- 
pense as to the eventual result of the vast struggle, the 
cloud was still too dark for optimists to roll it out of sight 
as they afterwards tried to do, party strife was silent 
though flashes of fire were on the horizon, and the country 
as a whole was slowly rising into a course of action and 
life which was to concurrently evoke the greater patriotism 
and the meaner passions of the people. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE WAK MINISTEY OF CANADA 

The Government which had to face this vital issue of a 
war requiring every resource in British men and money, 
in loyal support from every portion of the Empire, in 
co-operation from every lover of British liberty and insti- 
tutions throughout the world, was new to all such responsi- 
bilities, comparatively new, indeed, to the practice and 
science of government. Sir Robert Borden and his Minis- 
ters had only been three years in power and only one mem- 
ber of the Government had ever had the practical experi- 
ence of being in a Dominion Cabinet. Naturally, it had not 
been constituted for war purposes and, unlike that of Great 
Britain, did not have a familiarity with the subject which 
proximity to Europe gave and to which experience in Eng- 
land's little wars was supposed to add. It did, however, 
at the outset have the practically unanimous support of 
the people of Canada as expressed in Parliament, voiced 
in the press, discussed in the pulpit and on the platform. 
It had the earnest and continuous co-operation of the 
Imperial Government in matters of finance and the very 
effective advice and aid of Field Marshal the Duke of Con- 
naught, over a wide range of military affairs and policy 
and in respect to varied details of war administration and 
strategy. This support of the people, in these early stages, 
was one of the most amazing things which evolved out of 
Canada's part in the War. Love of Autonomy, fears of 
Imperialism, ideals of Independence, discontents caused by 
distance from the heart of the Empire, influences of Ameri- 
can contiguity, even racial and religious differences were 
forgotten and the people stood with surprising unanimity 
behind their leaders. 

[54] 



THE WAR MINISTRY OF CANADA 55 

The Prime Minister, therefore, in this period of the 
War, and for the first time in Canadian history, was the 
leader of an entire people as well as of a great party; to 
handle the crisis and the work required special qualities 
of coolness, caution, and concentration. That Sir Eobert 
Borden rose to the occasion and did his duty in an adequate 
way, without fuss, or flurry, or excitement, must be the 
high tribute of the future when the great issues, the tre- 
mendous strain, the silent labours of these months and 
years, come up for historic judgment. That the public 
during the ensuing years of war did not fully realize this 
was obvious ; in the busy life of the masses, the strenuous 
competition of business, the varied attractions of a crowded 
city or the isolated contentment of a rural home, men forgot 
at times the importance of the war itself, to say nothing of 
the difficulties facing the Prime Minister of their country. 
Personally, Sir Eobert Borden was an admirable head of 
the Administration at such a crisis. Unthinking people 
called continually during these years for quicker action, 
impulsive people wanted all kinds of impracticable policies 
and ideals realized at once, others demanded something 
spectacular in oratory or effort, or denounced details which 
they did not understand as parts of a whole. The pub- 
lic loves a Winston Churchill or a Leon Gambetta for a 
time — and then forgets him ; it worships a Lloyd George 
when he is somewhat iconoclastic in policy and quickly 
denounces him when he becomes a constructive statesman. 
Sir Robert, in the early months of the war and through the 
ever-increasing political and national difficulties of a later 
time, maintained an attitude of coolness and patience 
admirably suited to the period; refused to be rushed 
into action or pushed back into re-action; pursued his 
settled policies, quietly, persistently and with ultimate 
effectiveness. 

As with Mr. Asquith or Mr. Lloyd George in Great 
Britain the Premier had difficulties in his Cabinet and 



56 CANADA AT WAR 

differences in his Party, problems of a racial character, 
and complex troubles in recruiting and munition-making, 
obstacles of a partisan nature which began to develop in 
1915. Taken altogether, and in the light which time slowly 
but surely throws upon such periods of history, there is 
no doubt that Sir Robert Borden's responsibilities deserved 
more appreciation than they were accorded and that very 
often apparent slowness in action was a policy of delibi«er- 
ate delay in face of difficulties unknown to the public, and 
which could not be stated in time of war; that patient 
acceptance of specific conditions in place of prompt public 
effort to remedy them was due to a knowledge of compli- 
cations which made action at the moment unwise. Such 
a policy is not usually popular; the public prefers showy 
action and eloquent periods of speech. 

These things it did not get from Sir Robert Borden. His 
characteristics as a public man always had been sanity of 
word and judgment rather than spectacular phrases or 
decision. These qualities, coupled with a quiet, observant 
study of the political situation, and recurrent evidences of 
capacity as a clear and convincing debater in the best Par- 
liamentary form had in five years raised him from the 
position of a new and private member of Parliament to 
that of Leader of the Conservative party. In ten more 
years of public service they had brought him the respect 
of men of all parties in Canada when the fateful oppor- 
tunity made him Premier of the Dominion. The same 
qualities were well calculated to ensure wise leadership at 
a great crisis; even if this slowness of action and an 
invariable courtesy of manner were sometimes mistaken 
for weakness — an error, however, which the Opposition 
had not fallen into during the stormy Parliamentary 
debates on Reciprocity and Dreadnoughts. 

This question of the Prime Minister's leadership, or 
capacity for leadership, was constantly raised during these 
war years — most frequently in Opposition circles, fre- 




-, . '^■^" eourtHK.v Ciuuidian War Records.) 

Crerman Regimental Commanders Captured by the Canadians 



THE WAR MINISTRY OF CANADA 57 

quently also within his own party. The only way in which 
it can be analyzed, outside of the partisan opinion which 
carries no weight, is by reviewing in broad outline and 
with clear perspective the actual results of his Administra- 
tion. Such a study must be based upon the admitted pre- 
mise that Canada has not at any time been an easy country 
to govern, that it is not a racial or religious unit, that its 
population is scattered over great spaces, and that its peo- 
ples have been strongly affected in their view-point of 
many matters by proximity to the United States. All 
leaders and Governments find it difficult to hold office dur- 
ing war-time. In Britain, Palmerston during the Crimean 
War, Salisbury during the South African struggle, Asquith 
in the later and greater conflict, found the seat of power a 
throne of trouble — personal and political, as well as inter- 
national. During 1914-16 every section of the British peo- 
ple had its turn at denouncing Mr. Asquith, and only a 
really strong man could have steered the ship of state 
through the shoals and rocks of those years. Later on Mr. 
Lloyd George realized this fact up to the hilt and by 1918 
every Prime Minister or popular ruler of a combatant State 
at the beginning of the AVar had passed from power — 
except Sir Eobert Borden and General Botha. 

Sir Robert had to deal with a people absolutely unaccus- 
tomed to war, suspicious in many cases of Imperial inter- 
action, resentful of military discipline, opposed, before the 
War, to real military preparedness. He had to conciliate 
these elements, to hold an even keel between extreme 
Imperialism and extreme Nationalism, to keep French and 
English, East and West, in some form of co-operation, to 
hold in check the selfish and evil aims of the grafter and 
grasping corporation. He also had to consider how far 
Canada should and would go in the new situation which 
followed the despatch of the first Contingent; how deep 
was the feeling so splendidly shown in that initial response ; 
how much support the Government could rely upon and 
5 



58 CANADA AT WAR 

how far that support might go! Canadians are not an 
easy or restful people to guide and it is practically certain 
that had the Premier announced on September 1, after the 
first rush to the colours was over, that a total of 500,000 
men were required or would be sent, there would have been 
strong opposition, keen antagonism would have been raised, 
many things might have been said or written which would 
have hampered future recruiting, hostile interests would 
have been stirred to activity, racial difficulties, perhaps, 
accentuated. 

In the policy decided upon the line of least resistance 
was followed, more and still more men were asked for and 
obtained by gradual call and steady persuasion. The Gov- 
ernment, in short, obtained about 400,000 volunteers in two 
years and a half and eventually its full call of 500,000 men 
from a people who had considered the 7,000 men sent to 
South Africa fifteen years before as a great performance ; 
it built up a tremendous munitions industry as truly out of 
straw as were the Biblical bricks of old; it preserved and 
bettered the national financial conditions and held the 
divergent races of the country along lines of united, if 
somewhat uneven, action. It evolved finally into a Govern- 
ment representing all Parties and holding the expressed 
confidence of the people in a General Election. These were 
not the achievements of weak men or a weak leader, and 
whatever the years might unfold or parties charge or prove 
to the detriment of Sir Eobert Borden, these results stood 
out clearly upon the canvas of record. 

Would Sir Wilfrid Laurier have done better or done 
differently? It is as hard to answer such a question as to 
say whether the energetic enthusiasm of Lloyd George, the 
profound thought of Arthur Balfour, the impulsive energy 
of Winston ChurchiU, the solid attainments of Edward 
Carson or John Redmond, would have been better for 
Britain in the early years of the War than Mr. Asquith's 
cool, conciliating hand at the helm. The Liberal leader in 



THE WAR MINISTRY OF CANADA 59 

Canada, perhaps, would have had an easier time, and could 
have held certain troublesome elements in Quebec more 
smoothly along the path to action ; his eloquent touch upon 
the progress of events, if allowed full play, would have 
aroused the individual enthusiasm which only a few are 
capable of creating; his patriotic willingness to aid in the 
War and to carry on for Canada beside the Motherland 
of the Dominion were undoubted. Differences there would 
have been in both administration and record, but they are 
purely speculative. Certainly no Minister of Finance could 
have done better than Mr. AVhite; no Minister of Militia, 
with all his faults, could have got 32,000 men into training 
and on the way to Britain in 1914 more rapidly than did 
Colonel Hughes. The mistakes made by him and by other 
Ministers probably would not have been made ; it is equally 
probable that, human nature being what it is, others would 
have developed. If, in Britain, the Liberals were respon- 
sible for the munition failure, the Coalition was equally 
responsible for the gallant Gallipoli adventure, both great 
parties there, to their lasting credit, united on the question 
of Conscription, as they eventually did in Canada. 

With the Canadian Premier in an unostentatious, quiet 
but very real leadership in Cabinet and country was the 
Minister of Finance. Mr. White already had proven him- 
self a most capable financier in National affairs as he 
earlier had done in the business circles of Toronto ; on the 
outbreak of war he assumed responsibilities of an Imperial 
character with results of obvious influence in the British 
conduct of a world war. A good and effective speaker, 
though not an orator, a financial man rather than a poli- 
tician, a Minister with only three years ' experience of public 
and Parliamentary life, Mr. White won for himself in the 
first months of the conflict a great reputation for quick, 
decisive action, following upon a cool, collective view of the 
whole situation. He kept his hand firmly and steadily on 
the lever of big events and dealt with them on a large scale, 



60 CANADA AT WAR 

yet he did not overlook details; he was never rushed or 
stampeded, nor was he unduly slow or deliberate ; he looked 
ahead and around and then acted in time to avert trouble 
and to save unnecessary discussion. To do a thing was 
better than to talk about it. 

Sir Thomas "White — he was knighted early in this period 
and well deserved the honour — had a heavy task in hand- 
At the beginning he had to act quickly and, indeed, speed 
was the essence of safety in the first days of the War; 
afterwards an infinite variety of complicated problems had 
to be dealt with. As in Britain there was no longer a 
question of Free Trade or Protection and to that extent 
matters were simplified; it was a question of (1) maintain- 
ing public credit and (2) obtaining money to carry on public 
business in conditions of unique disturbance. It was a sit- 
uation where for months the stock exchanges of the world 
were out of business, where the chief lending money market 
of the world had to limit its activities to its own people or 
to war purposes, where ordinary trade with several great 
nations was cut off entirely and other trade restricted by 
the unknown risks of war, where $200,000,000 a year of 
incoming capital to Canada was suddenly stopped with a 
succeeding decrease in the imports from which revenue 
came in normal times. 

The Minister's policy after the first week of storm and 
stress was rendered easier by certain considerations: 

(1) The continued maintenance of British national credit; 

(2) the effective protection of trade and trade routes by 
the British Navy, and (3) the policy of Canadian banks 
during the two years of depressed conditions preceding 
this period. So far as the banks could control the situation 
during 1913 and 1914, and their power was very great, 
every financial sail in Canada had already been furled, 
every financial ship made storm-safe, every considerable 
interest guarded. But the issues of those fateful days from 
July 23 to August 4 were so vast that no financial system 



THE WAR MINISTRY OF CANADA 61 

in the world would have been safe if Britain had allowed 
the momentary panic to become a coUapse, or had permitted 
its thousands of millions in foreign acceptances to be dis- 
honoured at London, or had let its banks be the playthings, 
even for a day, of mob excitement and popular fear. So 
far as European nations, outside of Great Britain, were 
concerned Canadian interests in trade or investment were 
comparatively small ; all her basic interests lay in and with 
England. Within Canada were $2,800,000,000 of British 
monetary investments; to Great Britain every year went 
$200,000,000 of Canadian products and from that country 
came not only payment for these products but $200,000,000 
a year of fresh capital for the development of Canada ; back 
of the Canadian Government's credit and resources and 
trade and territory was the prestige of British power — 
in its final analysis the strength of British Naval guns and 
tonnage which safe-guarded $1,000,000,000 worth of natural 
products raised each year in Canada and $1,500,000,000 of 
manufactures annually produced. 

In such a situation and with such preliminary conditions 
of safety assured Mr. "White had to build up a practically 
new structure of national finance. It must be remembered 
that at first every probability pointed to lessened imports 
and therefore lower tariff returns; to lessened industrial 
production, and financial vitality in general, and therefore 
reduced ability to bear taxation; to heavy Government 
expenditures and already decreasing revenues still further 
reduced. That the Minister of Finance was able to quickly 
restore public confidence in August, 1914, to maintain public 
credit unimpaired and in a few months to immensely extend 
its scope and application in the United States, to obtain a 
complete working scheme of co-operation with the British 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to borrow at good rates at 
home or abroad all the money required to carry on the 
government of the country and bear an ever-increasing 
strain of war expenses, these were clear evidences of capa- 



63 CANADA AT WAR 

city and tributes to the personality of the Minister who, in 
Canada, bore his share of the financial fabric of Empire 
and war. 

Lieut.-General Sir Sam Hughes — as he became during 
the progress of the War — bore a unique personality and 
became the object of more mingled censure and praise than 
any other public man in Canada. Probably, his namesake 
in Australia ran him close in this latter respect. During 
the first years of the struggle the Canadian Minister of 
Militia was unceasingly busy mth an alert, intense activity 
wholly characteristic of the man; he expressed opinions, 
hopes, censure or approval, in an open style devoid of fear 
or favour iso far as the public was concerned; he was 
optimistic and frank in his speeches upon the War to a 
degree which shocked military sentiment and interested 
everyone; he said things which many censured and did 
things which many praised; he sent democratic troops to 
aid the great cause of liberty and used a degree of personal 
autocracy in so doing which was as unpopular at times as 
it was effective. Above all he embodied, in days of War, 
opinions and a policy which he had, in season and out, urged 
upon the country in days of Peace. In his work he made 
mistakes but he got the men, he equipped them, he sent 
them to England. 

Like Sir W. D. Otter and others General Hughes had 
been vigorously, and for long before he entered the Gov- 
ernment, urging a better and greater Militia force ; at the 
same time, unlike General Otter and most of his supporters, 
he had fiercely criticized the British Army and, in Canada, 
the Permanent Corps ; he was not an admirer of the War 
Office and was a keen supporter of the Eoss rifle — made in 
Canada — which the War Office was not supposed to 
approve of for either Bisley contests or war purposes, and 
which finally had to be discarded altogether. Whether as 
a politician or soldier, Militia advocate or Militia Minister, 
he had frequently been denounced by political opponents as 



THE WAR MINISTEY OF CANADA 63 

a militarist and jingo. His encouragement of the Cadet 
movement since becoming a Minister, his construction of 
drill-halls in many centres, his avowed desire to increase 
and improve the Militia even if it cost more and more 
money, had been unpopular with a not inconsiderable school 
of Canadian thought and with many members of Parlia- 
ment. 

Assuming that the country desired to do its part in the 
War, as was the case; that the men of the nation were 
willing, in fair proportion, to take up their obligations and 
the women to accept their share of the burden; the effi- 
ciency, the value, the rapidity of the aid given to country 
and Empire depended upon the administration of this 
Department. The Premier controlled the general policy of 
the Government, the Minister of Finance directed the vital 
matter of money, but upon General Hughes rested the 
responsibility, for good or ill, of the organization of that 
policy. Hence the importance of his personality and the 
effect of his action upon the standing and influence of the 
Government and the reputation of Canada abroad. Before 
he had retired from office his Department, in a financial 
connection, controlled expenditures of $175,000,000 a year, 
directed the raising, equipment and transportation of 
150,000 men to England, 100,000 men to France, and 100,000 
men in Canada, influenced in various ways the making of 
$400,000,000 worth of munitions, guided larger affairs than 
faced the British Government in the days of the Crimean 
War. 

That a Minister of impetuous, autocratic personality, 
under such conditions, would make bitter enemies, create 
complications for his Government, arouse resentments even 
in his own party and stir up vigorous controversies 
throughout Canada, goes without saying. Public opinion 
in these years was in a constantly fluid state regarding 
General Hughes. He would say something one day which 
touched some cherished conviction or tradition and which 



64 CANADA AT WAR 

the majority of people resented; he would make a casuaL 
remark the next day which every one praised as proving 
his absolute indifference to red tape and an honest inde- 
pendence of conviction and action. He would do some- 
thing one day which would deeply offend an important local 
interest or organization, and the next would balance it with 
a bit of practical work which would please the country as a 
whole. He liked doing big things and drove his Depart- 
ment like a motor at full speed — with such a motor's 
inevitable accidents and stoppages. The Liberal Opposi- 
tion in the country naturally devoted much time and space 
to the Minister of Militia, though he was on more than one 
occasion eulogized by such important Liberal journals as 
the Ottawa Free Press and Toronto Star, while at the same 
time criticized by Conservative organs such as the Montreal 
Star or Ottawa Journal. 

Whether it was blame or praise, however, Sir Sam 
Hughes took it all with indifference and even seemed to 
enjoy it ; he fought charges of corruption in the press and 
Parliament as he had fought the Boers in South Africa, 
and would have liked to fight the Germans in France, with- 
out fear or favour; he came out of certain definite Oppo- 
sition charges with the declaration of the Duff-Meredith 
Commission that there was nothing in the voluminous 
evidence before them in 1916 to prove dishonesty or cor-, 
ruption against the Minister. But he had the faults of his 
qualities and there were many who claimed in these years 
that those faults had rendered the Government hopelessly 
unpopular and would eventually wreck it at the polls. 
Governments, however, took a lot of wrecking at this time, 
as those of Asquith in Britain, Hughes in Australia, Botha 
in South Africa had proved. 

By the autumn of 1916, as a matter of gradual evolution, 
he had been relieved of some of his enormous burden of 
work. Munitions were by that time entirely under control 
of an Imperial Board; equipment and supplies for troops 



THE WAR MINISTRY OF CANADA 65 

were regulated in contract and price by the War Purchas- 
ing Commission with Hon. A. E. Kemp as Chairman; 
Canadian hospitals and returned soldiers were placed in 
charge of the Military Hospitals Commission with Sir J. A. 
Lougheed presiding ; the care and direction of the Canadian 
forces, hospitals, etc., in England, the despatch of Cana- 
dian troops to the Front, with questions of equipment, 
re-enforcement and special supplies there, were placed in 
charge of Sir G. H. Perley. General Hughes remained for 
a short time at the head of his Department, with home 
administration, recruiting and control of the forces in 
Canada as his personal sphere of operations. But it was 
only for a short time and he was compelled to retire in 
November with vigorous protests against any curtailment 
of responsibility, against subordination to Cabinet control, 
against any checks upon his own tumultuous personality. 
During these years the Minister's faults were known to 
all men, criticism had been abundant and often bitter, his 
own words at times were unwise and of the wild and whirl- 
ing kind. Such incidents as his cable to General Botha 
about ''My Army," his advice to Lord Kitchener about the 
Ypres salient and criticism of the policy involved, his 
denunciation of British medical work and officers, his decla- 
ration that Canadian supplies and equipment had been 
improperly rejected in England, were not calculated to aid 
recruiting, or help the Government, or promote Imperial 
sentiment. The fact is that General Hughes was an Imper- 
ialist in theory and a Canadian Nationalist in practice ; he 
wanted Canada to do its duty to the Empire but it must 
do it altogether in the Canadian way, or his way, without 
interference, or advice, or control, or even at times 
co-operation. But, despite all such facts or criticism, he 
had, in these twenty-eight months of war, blazed a pathway 
to efficient success in matters of recruiting, munition- 
making, transport and training of troops; he had over- 
come a public inertia in certain points which required an 



66 CANADA AT WAR 

almost dynamic energy to move ; lie had driven the fear of 
the Minister, if not the fear of God, into a Militia system 
which at best lacked cohesion and discipline; he had, in 
short, made a splendid army out of strong yet chaotic and 
untrained material. 

These three members of the Government were the most 
conspicuous ones and they bore the greatest burdens of 
responsibility and had more of the consequent pains and 
pleasures of publicity. Less imposing or spectacular but 
important in both fact and detail was the work of other 
Ministers. Sir George E. Foster was the one member of 
the Borden Government who had the memories and experi- 
ence of being in previous Dominion Cabinets ; his force as 
an orator was known in every part of Canada and through- 
out the Empire; his personality may not have attracted 
people to him in the sense of that much-abused word 
magnetism, but it compelled their respect. His adminis- 
tration of the Trade and Commerce Department was 
marked by effective work; it had not been his fault if 
Canadian manufacturers were so busy at home that they 
did not try to develop outside trade on the large scale 
which he urged ; the depression which came just before the 
War promised to correct this difficulty but war conditions, 
by an unexpected turn in the situation, developed increased 
demands upon the great majority of industrial plants. 
During these years Sir George was foremost in urging 
recruiting, trade expansion, industrial activity and enter- 
prise. His old-time Imperialism found fertile fields for 
operation and expression; his revivified eloquence rang 
true to a great occasion. In many a speech he denounced 
the would-be German dominance of Europe and then of 
the world, referred to the hatred felt against Great Britain 
as the one Power which had, by naval supremacy, prevented 
this result, dealt with the lessons of Empire organization 
and importance of naval power which the War brought 
home. 



THE WAE MINISTRY OF CANADA 67 

Robert Rogers, Minister of Public Works, was a constant 
target for Opposition attacks and returned them with char- 
acteristic force. He was conspicuous at the close of 1914, 
and later in 1915, for the advocacy of a general ''War'' 
election on the ground, chiefly, of Liberal control of the 
Senate and veto upon Government legislation; for a fight- 
ing political attitude which provided fuel to a constant fire 
of Liberal attack. His Department, however, was unusu- 
ally free of party charges, or specific attack, and he himself 
appeared to go on with public business and War policy in 
quiet self-confidence. Speaking at Montreal on May 3, 
1915, he declared that the Government had been prevented 
from appealing to the people by the outbreak of war iri 
August, 1914; reviewed recent Liberal opposition to the 
Government's financial policy and, through the Senate, 
rejection of Government measures and policy, and urged 
an election to clear the air and strengthen the hands of the 
Administration. This much-discussed speech was strongly 
denounced by the Liberals everywhere and marked the end 
of a system of co-operation between the Government and 
Opposition which had been getting looser and less effective 
since the beginning of the year ; which, during the balance 
of 1915, became an attitude of bare toleration on the part 
of the Opposition even when assenting to a year's prolonga- 
tion of the life of Parliament; which was during 1916 one 
of frequently expressed desire for an election and continu- 
ous criticism of the Government ; which only found renewed 
expression and vital force in the Union Government of 1917. 

Mr. Rogers himself came under fire of one of the many 
Manitoba Commissions of Inquiry in 1916 in its probe of 
conditions when he had been Provincial Minister of Public 
Works. In giving evidence before anything was actually 
proven against himself, he characteristically turned the 
tables by denouncing Judge Gait, the Provincial Coimnis- 
sioner, and others in judicial positions, with practising a 
form of corruption by accepting fees from partisan Gov- 



68 CANADA AT WAR 

ernments for non- judicial work. Whether he was right or 
wrong did not matter ; the public thought and discussion 
were turned away from an issue which the Liberal 
organization in Manitoba would have liked to cultivate. 
Eventually his retirement from office in 1917 removed a 
chief obstacle to Sir Eobert Borden's Coalition policy. 

A very diif erent type of politician was J. Douglas Hazen, 
Minister of Marine and Fisheries and Naval Affairs. A 
one-time Provincial Premier of New Brunswick he had 
been successful there in a quiet, non-aggressive way and 
had held his new post since 1911 with little criticism, few 
political and no personal enmities. He had an important 
work to do but it was not of a nature which brought great 
publicity. Much that was done by the Department during 
war-time could not be made public at all; one of its most 
important duties was the guardianship of the coasts and 
harbours and ports. Usually this work was limited to the 
Fisheries protection service with its continuous patrol of 
coast waters by a dozen or more vessels, but the War had 
seriously enlarged these operations. At first there was 
actual danger from stray German cruisers on both Cana- 
dian coasts ; then and afterwards there was a possibility of 
German mines being strewn in Canadian harbours ; in 1918 
German submarines actually made their appearance in 
Canadian waters. Early in 1915 notices to mariners were 
issued that mine-sweeping operations might at any time be 
under way off Canadian ports, that Government vessels 
mth distinctive flags or lights were patrolling off the ports 
of Halifax, Quebec and Esquimalt, that they had power to 
control the entry of all vessels by day or night. When 
Canadian mines were laid at any points Mr. Hazen, of 
course, had them in charge but no information could be 
made public. The war expenditure of the Department ran 
to over $5,000,000 a year and the Minister had charge of 
the Royal Naval Reserves, the Naval College at Halifax, 
and general conditions of Pacific and Atlantic coast defence 
apart from the operations of the Royal Navy. 



THE WAE MINISTRY OF CANADA 69 

Martin Burrell, Minister of Agriculture, commenced in 
1914 and carried on in 1915-16 a vigorous campaign with 
the popular slogan of "Patriotism and Production". A 
speech at Toronto (February 4, 1915) illustrated the 
nature of his appeal: **It is our duty, not less than Brit- 
ain's, to see that not a sailor in the fleet or a man in the 
trenches shall lack a single one of the things which he so 
sorely needs. On the lower grounds I urge that it will pay 
the producers of this country to extend their work, but on 
the higher I make the stronger appeal. " An Englishman by 
birth but for fifteen years a fruit-grower in British Colum- 
bia, Mr. Burrell knew agricultural conditions well and his 
eifforts were a factor in the tremendous crop of 1915 — 
one which helped the whole financial situation in Canada 
and gave the country a basis of prosperity more perma- 
nent than the ephemeral but spectacular production of 
munitions. 

Other members of the Grovernment at the outbreak of 
war were the Hon. C. J. Doherty, Minister of Justice, who 
possessed a certain natural shrewdness and capacity, a clear, 
legal mind, an incisive faculty of speech; the Hon. Frank 
Cochrane, Minister of Railways, a man of infinite silence 
so far as speech-making was concerned, a good adminis- 
trator, and bearing an excellent party reputation for 
organizing skill; the Hon. W. J. Eoche, Minister of the 
Interior, who was generally respected despite the holding 
of a Portfolio noted for its difficulties in administration 
and for a long series of political charges against preceding 
Ministers of both parties; the Hon. T. W. Crothers, Min- 
ister of Labour, who said little, attended to his duties 
quietly and made few public appearances — occasionally, 
however, running into the snags which organized labour 
knew so well how to put in the paths of public men; the 
Hon. J. D. Reid, who had done good work for his party in 
political organization, and was now administering the prac- 



70 CANADA AT WAR 

tically non-partisan duties of Minister of Customs which 
he did with a minimum of criticism and publicity. 

The Hon. A. E. Kemp and Hon. J. A. Lougheed were 
Ministers without Portfolio — the former a very successful 
manufacturer and the latter a Western barrister of high 
standing — who were destined to have important duties in 
the succeeding years of war. The Hon. Arthur Meighen, 
Solicitor-General, was a rising man in his own party and 
in Parliament, a speaker of rare excellence who did much 
service in making the public familiar with the real issues 
of the War. Sir G. H. Perley, Minister without Portfolio, 
Acting High Commissioner in London, eventually Overseas 
Minister of Militia, was one of the most effective, hard- 
working members of the Government. A business man, 
essentially, a Canadian in every special sense of the word, 
a long-time and intimate friend of the Prime Minister, a 
man whose advice was greatly sought and valued by his 
associates, a respected public man rather than a politician, 
his part in the war-work of the time was an important one. 

As to the important place in the Cabinet and in public 
discussion held by its French Canadian Ministers much 
might be said. A most important part of Government work 
and influence during this period turned upon their position 
and opinions. They represented in a special way the 
interests and action of nearly 2,000,000 of the population 
and, when War commenced, the Hon. L. P. Pelletier was 
Postmaster-General, Hon. W. B. Nantel, Minister of Inland 
Revenue, and Hon. Louis Coderre, Secretary of State. In 
October, 1914, the Hon. T. Chase Casgrain took Mr. Pelle- 
tier 's place and Hon. P. E. Blondin that of Mr. Nantel; 
in October, a year later, E. L. Patenaude became Minister 
of Inland Revenue and Mr. Blondin took over the post of 
Secretary of State. Mr. Chase Casgrain was of the old 
Conservative school of thought in Quebec, British in 
thought and policy, disliking sensational methods and pre- 
ferring to work with the Church of his people rather than 



THE WAE MINISTRY OF CANADA 71 

against it, or without it; Messrs. Blondin and Patenaude 
were of a new and more democratic school and had been 
labelled Nationalists by their political opponents; all were 
united in supporting the Government policy and general 
view of the War, its obligations and its duties. 

All of these Ministers, except Mr. Chase Casgrain and 
Mr. Pelletier, were on record as originally opposing the 
Naval policy of the late Laurier Government and any 
enlargement of Canada's responsibilities within the 
Empire. New conditions had brought new convictions, 
however, the Naval situation of 1909 had some weight in 
this change, the Eeciprocity campaign and change of Gov- 
ernment in 1911 had still more influence and, in 1913, all 
these Quebec leaders supported the Borden policy of Dread- 
nought contribution to Great Britain. As speakers Messrs. 
Casgrain and Blondin were conspicuous during the war- 
years and no one, unless it was Mr. Lemieux, the Liberal 
leader in Quebec under Sir W. Laurier, could speak more 
patriotically than Mr. Blondin. As he put it at Nicolet 
(December 17, 1915) : "For the French Canadians the vic- 
tory of the Allies will be a worse danger than their defeat, 
unless French Canadians lend their fullest aid to the cause. 
Far better will death be than to leave such a legacy of 
shame to our children. On the success of the Allies depends 
our own fate. Conquered, the Allies must leave our com- 
merce, our institutions and our liberty defenceless in the 
hands of Germany — the land of militarism, autocracy and 
barbarity." 

Such, in brief outline, were the Ministers who controlled 
the destinies and work of Canada in the first years of war. 
They faced severe and sometimes justified criticism; they 
did not always do the right thing at the right moment and 
sometimes did the wrong one; they did not keep all cor- 
ruption and favouritism out of public affairs; they, at 
times, and in a certain individual case, were arbitrary in 
word and will and in other cases slow in action when speed 



n CANADA AT WAR 

appeared essential. But, upon the whole, and history 
judges in a wide perspective — over the whole race-course, 
as it were — the results were good in the first three years 
of war. The Prime Minister did not palter with any proven 
corruption or hesitate to compel the retirement of guilty 
followers into private life; the Minister of Militia came 
out of the Munition charges with nothing worse proven 
than a lack of wisdom in the choice of friends and a failure 
to always see ahead; the Government obtained, by the 
close of 1916, four-fifths of the men asked for at the first 
of the year ; they had kept the country upon a fairly even 
keel in prosperity, in patriotic work, in party and Pro- 
vincial and National co-operation. 



ixsrvf. f i'-ft^!U- f't.'."^*:; 




§^ 



W 



CO 



'i^^ 



,*#^' 




(By courtesy Canadian War ll.runls.) 

Canadian Pioneers Felling Shell-Shattered Trees 




ir^a::^-^ 




CHAPTEE V 

ON THE WAY TO WAE— RAISING AN ARMY 

To raise a large voluntary force — a great army by 
precedents of the past — in a pacific community such as 
Canada possessed, amongst a people unfamiliar with the 
thought and fact of war, in a country reasonably safe, for 
the time at least, behind the ramparts of British naval 
power, was a great undertaking and an important fact in 
history. As compared with Great Britain's marvellous 
performance of ensuing years, the result showed only 1 in 
14 of the population compared with 1 in 9 ; but there were 
many considerations which made it easier to impress the 
vital import of the issue upon the people of the United 
Kingdom than upon the distant and racially-divided peoples 
of Canada. Zeppelins and submarines and the roar of the 
great guns in France are enough to mention here. 

It is true that in 1812 many Canadians had fought for 
the tentative British Empire of that period; that in 1854 
the Legislature of Upper and Lower Canada voted £20,000 
to aid ''the widows and orphans of the allied armies of 
England and France ' ' in the Crimea ; that in 1858 the 100th 
Royal Canadian Regiment was raised for service in India, 
though it did not reach that particular destination ; that in 
1877 Colonel J. W. Laurie offered to raise a regiment from 
Nova Scotia if England was involved in the Russo-Turkish 
War ; that a similar offer in 1884 for service in the Soudan 
was made by Col. A. T. H. Williams of Port Hope and 
other officers; that a contingent of voyageurs and volun- 
teers eventually did go under command of Col. F. C. Deni- 
son; that in the South African War about 7,300 Canadian 
troops, in all, served. Since then, also, the Royal Mili- 
tary College, Kingston, had turned out hundreds of young 

[73] 
6 



74 CANADA AT WAR 

officers who received British commissions and served all 
over the world. As a whole, however, Canada had known 
little of the realities of war, thought much of the ideals of 
peace, accepted much in the way of British protection, did 
not worry over questions of defence, and failed to take 
political issues of that nature very seriously. 

Hence the vital nature of the proof given, at this junc- 
ture, of the British and Imperial sentiment of the people ; 
hence the value of the emphatic, strenuous, personality of 
Colonel Sam Hughes in the Ministry of Militia ; hence also 
the benefit of the financial work of a capable Minister of 
Finance, and the large voluntary contributions of the people 
as a whole. The action of the Government was prompt in 
ordering on August 6, 1914, the mobilization of an Army 
Division of 21,000 men; the response of enlistment was 
immediate — especially from Ontario and the West; the 
result was the gathering of 33,000 troops at Valcartier, 
near Quebec, within a few weeks, for purposes of training. 
No popular effort was required in this connection, and 
50,000 or 100,000 men could probably have been obtained 
with ease at that time of national enthusiasm. Following 
this First Contingent, its training at Valcartier and trans- 
portation to England in November, came the organization 
of a Second Contingent of 22,000 men. At the same time 
there were forwarded from Canada 70 field guns and a 
number of machine guns, with the troops, while the great 
Artillery needs of the Motherland were recognized by the 
transfer of (1) 47 eighteen-pounders of the most modern 
type, which had been ordered by the Canadian Government 
in Great Britain before the outbreak of the War; (2) 51 
guns of the same type, which the Department of Militia 
had on hand; (3) a number of machine guns previously 
ordered by the Canadian Government in England. 

The raising and equipment of the two Contingents was 
the great war-work of 1914 in Canada, while the organiza- 
tion work of this force included the training and drilling 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — KAISING AN ARMY 75 

of the men, arrangements for supplies and the purchase of 
8,000 horses from all parts of Canada; the purchase and 
shipment of bread, meat and vegetables, of hay and of oats ; 
the planning of intricate transportation details over half 
a continent and across the Atlantic with the use of 100 
special trains and 32 steamships for the First Contingent 
alone ; the clothing, arming and equipment of the men, the 
supply of technical and other stores, the purchase and ship- 
ment of vehicles, harness and saddlery; the supply of large 
and small guns, with shells, ammunition, etc., for the Con- 
tingents and continuous inspection by the Ordnance Depart- 
ment of immense quantities ordered in addition by the War 
Office. The total value of guns, cartridges, ammunition- 
waggons, pistols, revolvers, rifles, motor-cars and trucks, 
ambulances, shrapnel shells, bayonets and machine guns 
received and sent with the First Contingent and forwarded 
to the Woolwich Arsenal for British use or supplied to 
the Rainbow and the Niohe, etc., was, approximately, 
$13,673,807. From this figure can be adduced some idea of 
the business involved in sending over the whole army of 
400,000 men. 

Valcartier Camp, meantime, was an illustration of rapid, 
effective, almost spectacular, creation under direction of 
Capt. Wm. Price and Lieut.-Colonels H. E. Burstall and 
W. McBain, with the abounding energy of the Minister of 
Militia as an incentive and support. The land was first 
acquired and several buildings raised, a rifle range erected 
to the extent of three miles or more of rifle-butts, grounds 
cleared and levelled and prepared, roads constructed and 
pavements built, lighting, heating and water facilities pro- 
vided, tents, horses, waggons, guns and military equip- 
ment transported and properly placed or organized, 
arrangements made for feeding thousands of men. The 
Camp was a most excellent one, the site ideal in its beauty, 
good in its general topography, very good in its healthy 
character. Colonel Hughes was proud of his creation of 



76 CANADA AT WAR 

this Camp in the course of a month, and it did stand greatly 
to his credit. 

During 1915 recruiting remained easy in some respects, 
but grew more difficult in others. There was an immense 
amount of discussion in the country as to the obligation of 
the unmarried man, the duties of the citizen, the system 
adopted by the Government, the methods of Leagues and 
recruiting officers, the action in aid of the work, or against 
it, by large institutions, the attitude of races and Prov- 
inces. Canada was not a military country and its people 
had been lapped in peace with rare, slight, and not danger- 
ous exceptions, for a hundred years ; its favourite platform 
peroration was the patriotism of the peace-maker; its 
Militia had always existed with difficulty and laboured 
under the disadvantage of political criticism and, until Sir 
F. W. Borden came into office in 1896, of Parliamentary 
cheese-paring; its popular tendency had been to regard 
war as no longer necessary or possible, as a relic of bar- 
barism, and preparation to meet it as militarism. Jingoism 
and a flying in the face of Providence, religion and national 
morality. Such a training was not calculated to make the 
average young man willing at a moment's notice to sacri- 
fice comfort, career, pleasure and, perhaps, life, in order to 
fight thousands of miles away for a cause which the British 
Navy prevented from directly touching his own country. 
The statistical situation as to the War was, according to 
the Census of 1911, as follows: 

Widowed, 
Males, 20 to 44, Divorced, and 

Particulars inclusive Single Married Unknown 

Canadian-born 973,621 446,927 508,213 18,481 

United Kingdom-born... 285,308 147,858 132,019 5,431 

Foreign-born 278,652 139,549 133,182 5,921 

Total 1,537,581 734,334 773,414 29,833 

Eliminating the unfit, allowing for an increase of 5 or 10 
per cent, in the five years, and for a difference in the fact 
that the military age was 18 to 45, there were about 
1,600,000 men available for service at the beginning of this 



ON THE WAY TO WAK — EAISING AN ARMY 77 

year. Of these 33,000 had gone forward with the First 
Contingent, and during the year others came forward to a 
total of 180,000 additional, or over 3,400 a week. There 
was much strenuous exertion in the obtaining of this 
result, and appeals were made to every instinct of man- 
hood and patriotism. It was pointed out that the fate of 
the Empire was at stake, together with the British institu- 
tions of which so much had been said in past years ; that 
men were needed not only to destroy a Militarism gone 
mad, but to prevent the necessity for future extreme expen- 
ditures on defence ; that if Germany won the War the rule 
of the new over-lord would be hard to endure and the liber- 
ties now exercised by British citizens would be gone ; that 
the Sermon on the Mount would be replaced by *Hhe will 
to Power" and religious ideals by military materialism; 
that Democracy would have proved a failure, loyalty to 
the Empire a sham, love for Canada a delusion ; that if the 
British Empire went down the Canadian financial fabric, 
Canadian trade, Canadian prosperity, would go with it, 
while immigration coming into the country would be Teu- 
ton in character, capital invested would be for the benefit 
of the Germans, the Canadian "West would be a feeding 
ground for the German Empire and a stamping ground 
for the German farmer and settler. 

It was difficult, however, to overcome the inertia of 
years ; to understand that the War was what the speakers 
called "our war;" to appreciate the fact that in the mil- 
lions of troops at the Front, or going there, every man 
still counted and that many units made an army ; to realize 
that Canada was no longer an insignificant, dependent, 
unknown colony, but a British nation with a nation's 
responsibilities and wealth and with great resources which 
were fit prey for foreign cupidity if Britain's power should 
ever be broken. This last point touched the greatest dif- 
ficulty or at least the most frequently avowed excuse given 
by the eligible young men : *'If it were a question of home 



78 CANADA AT WAK 

defence I would be first to enlist." This sort of man would 
not accept the call of his country, the opinion of his states- 
men, the appeal of his Sovereign, the common knowledge of 
what his Empire was doing and the sacrifices his Mother- 
land had made. If it was merely an excuse it proved what 
probably was the real trouble in many quarters — a species 
of combined selfishness and indifference. Whether this was 
chiefly born of isolation from the heart of the Empire, of 
prolonged Pacifist teaching, of a cosmopolitanism growing 
out of proximity to the United States, or of simple love of 
comfort and ease, it is hard to say. 

There was a good deal of abuse during this season, of 
wild words, flung at the "shirker" and "slacker" and 
coward. Much of it was unwise and, like most generaliza- 
tions, in either argument or epithet, untrue. Probably it 
was one of those minor elements which hurt recruiting. 
Another was unquestionably the attitude of some women. 
If it was hard for men to get away from peace doctrines 
and long-based convictions, it was almost impossible for 
many women to do so. Canada was not directly affected, 
why should they send their husbands or sons or lovers to 
fight for civilization or democracy or for a distant Empire I 
There were no bombs or Zeppelins or cannon here, and, 
apparently, no likelihood of their coming. Another obsta- 
cle was the absence of local sentiment in the names of the 
battalions. A number meant nothing now or in the future ; 
to belong to a well-known, perhaps, some day, world- 
famous Kegiment with name and location would have 
meant much. In the early part of the year many men were 
declined for want of machinery and equipment to handle 
them; afterwards all fit men were taken, but, no doubt, a 
certain number never returned to the recruiter. Early in 
the year, too, rural battalions were hard to fill up; the 
farmers in many cases had no sons available, or in other 
cases were too much concerned about their personal inter- 
ests. There was much truth in the call of the Toronto 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — KAISING AN ARMY 79 

Globe (January 23, 1915) for a campaign of education and 
in its statement that *Hlie country requires information as 
to the causes of the war, the issues involved and the press- 
ing need for men. ' ' More important, perhaps, than these 
minor factors was the platform and newspaper call to bat- 
tle for "Civilization." The average young man could at 
least have understood a call for Canada, for Britain, for 
the Empire ; it is a question how far in this commercial age 
a plea for civilization and for a place in the World War, as 
such, really reached the heart of Canadians. Yet with all 
said and done the response of the country was a splendid 
one; the efforts of men and officers worthy of the highest 
eulogy and the lasting appreciation of their country and 
Empire ; the bravery of those who volunteered greater than 
that in any similar period of history, because they knew 
the full horrors of the war as well as the necessity of serv- 
ing their nation. 

At the close of the year 212,000 men were under arms 
and 500,000 were called for. Upon the whole and under 
all the conditions this was a splendid record and a remark- 
able result of two chief factors — the energy of the Minister 
of Militia and the real, underlying patriotism of the people. 
Much was said during this period as to the part played by 
the native Canadian as distinct from that of the Canadian 
born in the United Kingdom. Statistics compiled by the 
writer in 1915 from official lists, including 54,673 members 
of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and representing, 
primarily, the first two Contingents, together with Artil- 
lery, Machine-gun sections, Hospitals, Divisional Supply 
Columns, Signal companies, Eemount depots, Cyclist corps, 
Ammunition columns. Army Medical Corps and Engineers, 
showed 42,195 born in England, Ireland and Scotland and 
12,418 born in Canada. The love of one's home-country, 
the love of adventure innate in the Islanders and proven 
by the very fact of previous migration, the more intimate 
realization of the war by men born in a land directly 



80 CANADA AT WAR 

threatened by German power, a closer personal touch with 
devastated Europe, all aroused the British settlers in Can- 
ada to a quick and active sense of duty. However that may 
he, at the close of the year the Prime Minister called for 
500,000 men to complete Canada's contribution, and a little 
later (February 15, 1916) the enlistment figures stood as 
follows :* 

Native-born Canadians 73,935 30 per cent. 

British-born in United Kingdom 156,637 62 per cent. 

Others 18,899 8 per cent. 

Total 249,471 100 per cent. 

As to Provinces, it was announced from Ottawa on 
November 2, 1915, that, approximately, Ontario had 
recruited 42,300 men, Quebec 14,000, the Maritime Prov- 
inces 15,000, Manitoba and Saskatchewan 28,000, British 
Columbia and the Yukon 17,000, and Alberta about 14,200. 
At the end of this month recruiting was at the rate of 1,000 
a day, and at the close of the year 2,000 a day. The year 
1916 began with a record for recruiting which coloured 
public thought and influenced Government action through- 
out the year. Certainly, the response to the appeal of 
patriotism in its first three months, the immediate reply to 
Sir Eobert Borden's call for 500,000 men, was splendid. 
During January 29,212 men enlisted in all Canada ; in Feb- 
ruary 26,658 enlisted; during March 32,705 joined the 
ranks — a total of 88,575, or over 1,000 a day if Sundays 
were excluded. About this time (March 20- April 28) the 
United States, with its 100,000,000 population, was recruit- 
ing at high pressure for possible Mexican service, under 
the Hay Emergency Act of the late Congress, and obtained 
5,417 soldiers, or 150 a day. The rejections were 18,442. 
By 1 June 334,736 men had been obtained in Canada out of 
the 500,000 asked for by the Government — a task which 
involved the recruiting of 30 per cent, of all males of mili- 
tary age in the Dominion, or about 7 per cent, of the total 
population, with 10 per cent, as the technical estimate of 

* Brig.-Gen. James Mason, Senate, March 14, 1916. 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — EAISING AN AEMY 81 

what could be economically taken from any population for 
war purposes. 

In the first part of the year recruiting was splendid, as 
the above figures indicate ; then in the summer months the 
decline in enlistment became gradually more and more 
obvious ; the difficulties grew greater and the struggles of 
the recruiting officers were pathetic; the instances of non- 
patriotic feeling or of indifference grew more frequent ; the 
situation in Quebec became disheartening. During the 
seven months of June-December the total of straight 
recruiting under the Militia Department was 58,000 over 
the figures of June 1 and at the rate of a little more than 
300 per day. The totals during nine months were as fol- 
lows: April, 23,289; May, 15,090; June, 10,795; July, 
8,675; August, 7,267; September, 6,357; October, 6,033; 
November, 6,548; December, 5,791. To these figures, how- 
ever, might properly be added many others,* such as 9,052 
men of the Militia called out for purposes of Home service ; 
the Permanent Force of 2,470 men and a Canadian Naval 
Service Force of 3,310; the 1,600 volunteers for the British 
Naval Service and 1,200 men provided for the Imperial 
Mechanical Transport Corps; 3,000 volunteers for expert 
munition work in Britain ; 2,750 British reservists — a mini- 
mum and very low estimate — who had rejoined their 
colours, and 17,500 French, Eussian and Italian reservists 
who had responded to their national calls. The total was 
434,529 men from Canada on war service of some kind or 
other with a deduction of 70,263 for casualties — including 
48,454 wounded, of whom, no doubt, about half were able 
to return to the front. 

The reasons for this situation were very clear, and the 
chief factors as follows: (1) The reaching of a certain 
limit in regard to men recently from the United Kingdom 
and of men stirred strongly by patriotic impulse, or home 
training, or the spirit of adventure; (2) the fact of 7 per 

* Speech by Sir Robert Borden in Commons, January 22, 1917. 



B2 CANADA AT WAR 

cent, of the population in a country like Canada, where 
everyone worked and individual responsibilities were 
greater amongst the masses, being almost equal to 10 per 
cent, in a country such as England; (3) the existence of 
high wages and the demands of munition factories, which 
called for and eventually received 300,000 workers; (4) the 
hostile attitude in Quebec of Henri Bourassa and the 
Nationalists. 

As to personal and Provincial details of the recruiting at 
this time there was considerable discussion. Mr. N. W. 
Eowell, K.C., in the Ontario Legislature on April 19 adduced 
figures up to March 1, and from a total enlistment of 
263,111, which showed by occupations 16,153, or 6 per cent., 
of professional men ; 6,530, or 2 per cent., of employers or 
merchants; 48,777, or 18 per cent., of clerical workers; 
170,369, or 64 per cent., of manual workers; 17,044, or 6 
per cent., of farmers and ranchers, and 4,238, or 1 per cent., 
of students. By Provinces, Ontario deprecated the atti- 
tude of Quebec and was proud of its own position; the 
West, also, claimed to have done much better than the East. 
Taking the total of 378,413 up to December 1, 1916, it may 
be stated that Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Brit- 
ish Columbia recruited 147,090, or a surplus of 11,332 above 
their share of the 500,000 men required, while Quebec, 
Ontario and the Maritime Provinces had raised 231,323, 
or 125,682 short of their proportion of the 500,000 — the 
chief deficit being in Quebec. According to Military dis- 
tricts, the figures from January 1, 1916, up to November 1 
were as follows: London, Toronto and Kingston, in 
Ontario, 152,995; Montreal and Quebec, in Quebec, 39,907; 
Maritime Provinces, 33,694; Manitoba, Saskatchewan and 
Alberta, 108,419; British Columbia, 36,580. Naval recruit- 
ing showed 1,600 enlistments up to the close of 1916. 

During 1917 these conditions were accentuated and the 
results were obvious. The picturesque personality of Sir 
Sam Hughes was replaced this year by the business-like 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — RAISING AN ARMY 83 

administration of Sir Edward Kemp. There was less 
driving force with fewer results in the Militia Department ; 
there, also, was much less friction with fewer frills. The 
new Minister, however, had to meet a condition in which 
the voluntary system was reaching its limit, and, in order 
to postpone the inevitable but undesirable method of Con- 
scription, he and the Government tried all possible plans 
for increasing the Army. They seemed to feel, and no 
doubt wisely, that the public must be thoroughly convinced 
of the failure of voluntaryism before compulsion could be 
made effective. Hence, no doubt, the National Service 
Board and its operations. Created by Order-in-Council on 
October 5, 1916, its primary object was to facilitate recruit- 
ing by a sort of voluntary co-ordinating of labour, in the 
various industries, with army requirements and to obtain 
a National registration of man-power. Aggressive action 
was ensured by the Chairmanship of R. B. Bennett, k.c, 
M.p. ; work was hampered and the policy of the 13 Directors 
of National Service under him affected by the absence of 
exact legal authority. Strong efforts were made, and in 
September, 1917, the Board ceased to exist after a vale- 
dictory in the Commons from Mr. Bennett (September 20) 
in which he divided the returns, totalling 1,549,360 cards, 
into 286,976 military prospects in non-essential occupations 
and 183,727 in farming, with 4,660 skilled workers in mines 
and ships and munitions, or a total of 475,363 ; the Indus- 
trial classes reporting totalled 143,995, soldiers 48,496, and 
the ''discards" 679,511, with incomplete or blank cards 
206,605. He deprecated the vagueness of the Board's 
original scope and duties and its lack of statutory powers. 
Even this partial analysis of man-power showed plenty 
of available men for recruiting purposes, and the year 1916 
had seen 178,537 enlistments, making a total of direct enlist- 
ments since the War commenced of 383,955, or 434,000 if 
all the sources mentioned by Sir R. Borden were included. 
There had been a falling off in December, 1916, and this 



84: CANADA AT WAR 

continued and grew more marked during each succeeding 
month of 1917. As early as 4 January J. M. Godfrey, Presi- 
dent of the Canadian National Service League, represented 
the opinion of practically all concerned in recruiting when 
he said in Toronto that: "Everyone engaged in active 
recruiting for any length of time becomes a conscriptionist. 
He soon sees that the voluntary system is ineffective, 
unfair, unequal, undemocratic, wasteful and not really 
British." By June 30, according to the Minister of Militia 
in the House on August 6, the figures of enlistment totalled 
424,456. In succeeding months not only did recruiting 
decrease, but wastage from casualties and the discharge of 
men in England or in Canada for various causes increased. 
The enlistments and wastage of the year ran as follows by 
months: January — Enlistments, 9,194; wastage, 4,396; 
February — 6,809 and 21,955; March — 6,640 and 6,161; 
April — 5,330 and 10,894; May — 6,407 and 13,457; June, 
6,348 and 7,931; July — 3,882 and 7,906; August — 3,117 
and 13,232; September — 3,588 and 10,990; October — 
4,884 and 5,929; November — 4,019 and 30,741; December 
— 3,921 and 7,476. The total casualties — killed and 
wounded, died of wounds, prisoners, or missing — to 
December 31, 1917, were 145,671, of whom 25,138 were killed 
in action, 102,726 wounded and 2,740 prisoners of war. 

Meanwhile, co-operation had been effected with the Brit- 
ish Eecruiting Mission in the United States, headed by 
Brig.-Gen. W. A. White, c.m.g., and assisted by a Canadian 
as well as British staff. Eecruits were accepted for the 
Canadian forces and forwarded for attestation to the near- 
est Canadian depot, and a few thousands were in this way 
obtained. A vigorous effort developed in March to raise 
a force for Home defence which would be distinct from 
the Army on active service. As the young and eligible men 
would no longer volunteer in any large numbers, it was 
hoped to obtain their support for a service which would 
not divorce them from home-ties and occupations and yet 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — RAISING AN ARMY 85 

give them a certain amount of training and perhaps develop 
a military and patriotic spirit, which, in turn, would induce 
them to enlist for active service. Meanwhile, they would 
help to guard Canada against complications from Germans 
in the States which then were feared, and enable the 50,000 
or so of troops in local training for the Front to go over- 
seas. It was understood to be a last effort of Sir Edward 
Kemp as Minister to obtain voluntary enlistment, and on 
March 16 he announced the details of the scheme. The 
project proved a failure, however, and this was admitted 
by the Minister on June 25. 

So much for Enlistment details during 1916-17. In con- 
sidering these ups and downs and critical comments, how- 
ever, a broad view is necessary to do the situation justice, 
and this the historic judgment of Canada must take. In 
1793, when the War with Revolutionary France began. 
Great Britain had about twice the 1914 population of Can- 
ada and took six months to send 10,000 men abroad; in 
1854, with 27,000,000 population, Britain sent to the Crimea 
in six months about 30,000 men, and not more than 90,000 
altogether; in 1914 Canada sent 33,000 men in two months 
from a population of about 8,000,000, and in two years had 
despatched 240,000 men on active service, with 100,000 in 
training at home. She had called 30 per cent, of all the 
eligible men in the country, and, taking 435,000 as the total 
accepted, 25 per cent, had responded — with the rejections 
of over 100,000 the proportion would be greater. This was 
a splendid record and the inevitable difficulties indicated 
above no more reflect on the greatness of the result than 
occasional labour troubles and strikes and anti-war fanati- 
cism in England could mar the great product of volun- 
taryism in that land of liberty. There were two conditions 
of this recruiting which stand out clearly on the pages of 
history— (1) the splendid response of the working-men 
with a total indicated by the figures to March 1, 1916, which, 
as quoted above, showed nearly two-thirds of the enlist- 



86 CANADA AT WAR 

merit, and (2) the response oi* the sons of well-known men, 
of families famous in Canadian history, or of men who 
had themselves achieved high place in Canadian annals. 

The conditions which eventually made Conscription 
necessary in Canada, as in almost every country in the 
world, have already been hinted at and can hardly be dealt 
with at length here.* After two years of discussion, which 
increased in feeling and effect from month to month; 
after-war experiences, which changed a deep national and 
democratic antagonism to military compulsion into a popu- 
lar belief as to its imperative necessity, after these and 
other events, the impossible became a fact, great difficulties 
were overcome and, in the middle of 1917, Conscription 
became the law of Canada. The Government had not, origi- 
nally, been in favour of it, and Sir Robert Borden, in 
August, 1914, and in January, 1915, had stated that it was 
not the intention to propose compulsory military service. 
As late as December, 1916, he declared that the National 
Service cards would not be used to promote Conscription. 
As the Premier put it in a letter to the Mayor of Montreal 
on July 13, 1917: ** These statements were absolutely and 
literally true when they were made. No one could then 
estimate or even imagine the magnitude of the efforts neces- 
sary to Avin the War and thus to preserve our national 
existence." 

Of itself there was nothing dishonorable or opposed to 
National freedom in the acceptance of this policy. In the 
earlier periods of English history compulsory service was 
the badge of the freeman, and slaves only were exempt; 
conscription remained the basis of national defence under 
all the greater Kings, including Henry II and Edward I; 
it operated side by side with voluntaryism under Elizabeth 
and, though Charles I preferred the volunteer system, 
Cromwell used compulsion freely. In the wars with France 

* For full details of all the events and conditions described in this volume, 
see Canadian Anniml Review of Public Affairs, 1914-18, by the Author of these 
chapters. 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — KAISING AN ARMY 87 

conscription was used for home defence; the volunteer 
system for foreign service. Then came the British Peace 
period, the system of a voluntary army and militia. Before 
the World War of 1914 had reached its fourth year Con- 
scription had become the recognized policy of every country 
involved except Canada, South Africa and Australia ; in the 
two latter Dominions there was compulsory home training. 
The situation in Canada at the beginning of this year was 
that the Militia Act, under which "the Governor-in-Council 
may place the Militia, or any part thereof, on active service 
anywhere in Canada, and also beyond Canada, for the 
defence thereof, at any time when it appears advisable so 
to do by reason of emergency,'^ had not been proclaimed; 
that the Canadian Army in France or England was there 
by special Parliamentary permission. Executive action and 
voluntary association; that no call had ever been made 
under the terms of the Militia Act by which the males of 
Canada, liable for military service, could have been enrolled, 
ordered for service, and sent abroad. Under this Act the 
male population liable to service was divided into four 
classes : 

(1) The First Class shall comprise all those of 
the age of 18 years and upwards, but under 30 
years, who are unmarried or widowers without 
children. 

(2) The Second Class shall comprise all those 
of the age of 30 years and upwards, but under 45 
years, who are unmarried or widowers without 
children. 

(3) The Third Class shall comprise all those of 
the age of 18 years and upwards, but under 45 
years, who are married or widowers with children. 

(4) The Fourth Class shall comprise all those of 
the age of 40 years and upwards, but under 60 
years. 

The right of compulsion was inherent in this Act without 
further Parliamentary action ; the power had not been util- 



88 CANADA AT WAR 

ized and the Militia had remained, through three years of 
war, as merely a supply base for enlistment, for officers, for 
training volunteers. By the first of the year 1917 compul- 
sion of some kind, however, seemed imperative to most 
thoughtful men ; but the Government had to deal with many 
who were not in that category and with many, also, who 
were deliberately hostile to this method of raising men 
for reasons of a personal, political, racial, or other nature. 
No stone was left unturned to avoid the contingency, and, 
after the National Service Board and its effort to regulate 
and expedite the work and enlistment, came the Lessard- 
Blondin attempt to arouse Quebec, and, finally, the Defence- 
Force scheme. There was expressed opposition all through 
these efforts and this period to compulsion in any form. 
Sir Wilfrid Laurier was known to be opposed to such a 
policy as, indeed, had been all political leaders and parties 
of the past ; Quebec was obviously opposed to Conscription 
when it would not accept voluntaryism in the same measure 
as the rest of Canada; official Liberalism still denounced 
the policy and others deprecated it under any condition. 
At the same time enlistments were proving fewer, the work 
harder, the cost per man greater. 

Such was the situation when, on May 18, after his return 
from England and his seat in the Imperial War Cabinet, 
Sir Eobert Borden told the country that a Conscription 
measure was imperative and would be introduced shortly. 
It was known that the 1911 Census showed 1,720,070 males 
between 18 and 45 years of age, the enlistments to date 
were 414,000, the number of munition workers were about 
300,000 of whom perhaps 100,000 would not come in the 
available class, the men of all ages engaged on farms were 
917,000. In the Commons on June 13 the Minister of Militia 
submitted statistics showing the approximate number of 
the population between 20 and 45, under the Census of 
1911, as 760,453 single men and 823,096 married men; the 
increase of population between 1911 and 1917 was about 
balanced by the number of men already enlisted. 




>^r^-w««Mi«M*> 





w 



C3 



i 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — KAISING AN AEMY 89 

The Prime Minister, in his announcement described the 
war situation as serious and added : "A great struggle lies 
before us, and I cannot put that before you more forcibly 
than by stating that at the commencement of this spring's 
campaign Germany put in the field 1,000,000 more men than 
she put in the field last spring." He deplored the Russian 
situation, expressed pleasure at the accession of the United 
States which had already contributed 9,000 men to the 
C. E. F., dealt with the submarine menace, had no hope of 
the War ending in 1917, and then proceeded: *' Hitherto 
we have depended upon voluntary enlistment. I myself 
stated to Parliament that nothing but voluntary enlistment 
was proposed by the Government. But I return to Canada 
impressed at once with the extreme gravity of the situation 
and with a sense of responsibility for our further effort 
at the most critical period of the War. It is apparent to me 
that the voluntary system will not yield further substantial 
results. ' ' He added that the number of men required would 
not be less than 50,000 and would probably be 100,000. A 
month passed before the actual presentment of this measure 
to Parliament and in that period public opinion found a 
wide expression which, upon the whole, was favourable and 
was to be found within the ranks of all Parties. 

During this period it gradually became clear that the 
Government would gain for its measure a number of Lib- 
erals in Parliament and much Liberal support in the 
country, that it would probably lose most of its current 
Quebec support, that the issue might, in the end, and cer- 
tainly did, so far as an election was concerned, depend on 
the West. In the Commons on June 11 Sir Robert Borden 
introduced the Military Service Act and explained its pro- 
visions, and his reasons, more fully than usual on a first 
reading. He reviewed the War position and Canada's 
situation briefly, from the three and a half splendid months 
in which 100,000 Canadians enlisted to the later days of 
dragging effort and occasional evasion of duty and the 
7 



90 CANADA AT WAE 

existing prospeci of either dwindling Divisions at the Front 
or a reinforcement through Compulsory service. He did 
not propose enforcement of the Militia Act because that 
meant selection by ballot or chance: ''We are convinced 
that the selection should be based upon an intelligent con- 
sideration of the country 's needs and conditions. We must 
take into account the necessities of agriculture, of com- 
merce, and of industry.'' In its preamble the Bill recited 
the defence clauses of the Militia Act and proclaimed the 
new measure as necessary to obtain reinforcements "for 
the defence and security of Canada, the preservation of the 
Empire and of human liberty. ' ' Administration was placed 
under the Department of Justice and the term was for dura- 
tion of the War and of demobilization ; it covered all male 
British subjects between 20 and 45 years of age and they 
were at first placed in ten classes, which were afterwards 
rearranged into six, as follows : 

Class 1. Those who have attained the age of 20 
years and were born not earlier than the year 1883 
and are unmarried, or are widow^ers but have no 
child. 

Class 2. Those who have attained the age of 20 
years and were born not earlier than the year 1883 
and are married, or are widowers who have a child 
or children. 

Class 3. Those who were born in the years 1876 
to 1882, both inclusive, and are unmarried, or are 
widowers who have no child. 

Class 4. Those who were born in the years 1876 
to 1882, both inclusive, and who are married, or are 
widowers who have a child or children. 

Class 5. Those who were born in the years 1872 
to 1875, both inclusive, and are unmarried, or are 
widowers who have no child. 

Class 6. Those who were born in the years 1872 
to 1875, both inclusive, and are married, or are 
widowers who have a child or children. 

These classes were to be called up from time to time by 
proclamation of the Governor-in-Council and when called 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — RAISING AN ARMY 91 

up became enlisted soldiers under military law; before 
reporting they were deemed to be on leave of absence with- 
out pay ; those not reporting within reasonable time would 
be guilty of desertion or absence without leave and liable to 
imprisonment at hard labour. The tribunals to deal with 
exemptions and to hear appeals were (1) Local Exemption 
Courts, (2) Appeal Courts, and (3) a Central Appeal Judge 
who would be the final court of appeal. The conditions of 
exemption were broad and liberal: (1) that of working in 
essential War occupations; (2) those in work for which 
they had special qualifications; (3) cases where "serious 
hardship would ensue, if the man were placed on active 
service, owing to his exceptional financial or business obli- 
gations or domestic position, ill-health or infirmity"; and 
(4) conscientious objection to combatant service or prohibi- 
tion by the tenets of his faith. Certain classes were 
exempted, such as members of His Majesty's regular or 
reserve, or auxiliary forces, as defined hj the Army Act. 
These, in the main, were as in the British Act; men serving 
in any of the British forces on land or sea, with clergy and 
ministers of all religious denominations, and settlers of the 
Mennonite or Doukhobor communities were also excluded. 
Sir Wilfrid Laurier followed at length and indicated the 
reasons which compelled him to accept a split in his Party 
upon this question, to break the unanimity of Canadian war 
action, to become essentially the leader of his people in 
Quebec and to make necessary, later on, a War election 
conflict. His reasons may be sununarized briefly, with the 
use of his own words, as follows : 

1. To-day the Government brings down a meas- 
ure to substitute for voluntary service compulsory 
service — compulsory service, which the Govern- 
ment from the day the war broke out up to the 18th 
of April this year has said never would be resorted 
to. I rise to ask, whether this new measure will 



92 CANADA AT WAE 

not be more detrimental than helpful to the cause 
which we have at heart. 

2. The law of the land, which antedates Confed- 
eration by many generations, and which was 
reintroduced at the time of Confederation, emphat- 
ically declared that no man in Canada shall be 
subjected to compulsory military service except to 
repel invasion for the defence of Canada. I claim 
there never was any danger of invasion on the part 
of Germany. 

3. Would anyone believe that, if the Govern- 
ment had told us (1916) that they contemplated 
introducing the new, radical principle of Conscrip- 
tion, Parliament would have been extended? When 
this Government asks this moribund Parliament to 
pass such a law as this, it is an abuse of the author- 
ity which has been placed in their hands by the 
people of Canada. 

4. There is in all the Provinces of the Domin- 
ion at the present moment, amongst the working 
classes, an opposition to this measure which is not 
wavering, but which is becoming stronger every 
day. There is another class which has been 
strongly opposed to Conscription. I refer to the 
French-Canadian portion of the population. 

5. I ask which is the course most conducive to 
success in the War — compulsion with irritation 
and bitterness and a sense of intolerance and 
injustice, or consultation with consequent union, 
and universal satisfaction all around? . . . What 
I propose is that we should have a Referendum and 
a consultation of the people upon this question. 

6. When the verdict of the people has been 
given, there can be no further question, and every- 
body will have to submit to the law. I repeat the 
pledge I gave a moment ago on behalf of my own 
Province, that every man, although he is to-day 
opposed to the law, shall do service as well as any 
man of any other race. 

The Leader of the Opposition then moved an amendment 
that "the further consideration of this Bill be deferred until 
the principle thereof has, by means of a Referendum, been 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — RAISING AN ARMY 93 

submitted to and approved of by the electors of Canada.*' 
The ensuing debate was a long and interesting one, lasting 
for over three weeks and including a Nationalist amend- 
ment to the amendment, presented on June 20, by J. A. 
Barrette, demanding that ^'this Bill be not now read a 
second time but it be read a second time this day six 
months." The second reading took place on July 5, with 
the Barrette amendment receiving nine votes to 165, the 
Laurier amendment 62 to 111, an amendment by A. B. Copp, 
proposing delay, 56 to 115. The Bill passed by 118 to 155, 
the third reading by 102 to 44, and became law in due 
course. Early in September a Military Service Council was 
appointed to aid the Justice Department in administering 
the Act, while the Premier and the Opposition leader joined 
in the appointment of a Board of Selection to create the 
necessary Exemption Tribunals; Eegistrars and Medical 
Boards were also appointed. By the close of 1917, 404,395 
had registered, 380,510 had asked for exemption, with 
278,779 claims allowed by local tribunals and 47,868 dis- 
allowed. The number of men eventually obtained under 
and by means of the Military Service Act (October 13, 1917, 
to November 15, 1918) was 83,355, of whom 20,743 reported 
voluntarily and 62,612 reported as ordered or under com- 
pulsory conditions; the number originally expected by the 
Government was from 50,000 to 100,000. The total of all 
enlistments up to the end of the War was 611,741.* The 
Army thus raised was eventually represented in Infantry 
and Cavalry Battalions as shown in the following official 
tables issued by the Government at the close of the War — 
but not including Engineers, Pioneers, Cyclists, Army Serv- 
ice Corps, Forestry and Railway Construction or the 
Siberian Expeditionary Force of about 4,000 men : 

* Speech by Maj.-Gen. S. C. Mewburn, c.m.g., Minister of Militia, Toronto, 
December 16, 1918. 



^/^' 



94^ 



CANADA AT WAK 

ORIGINAL OFFICERS AND STRENGTH OF INFANTRY BATTALION 



Infantkt Unit 




P. P. C. L. I. 

R. C. R 

1st Batt . . 
2nd Batt . . 
3rd Batt . . 
4th Batt. . 
5th Batt. . 
6th Batt. . 
7th Batt. . 
8th Batt. 



Lt -Col. F. D. Farquhar, d.s.o 

Lt.-Col. A. E. Carpenter 

Lt.-Col. F. W. Hill 

Lt.-Col. D. Watson 

Lt.-Col. R. Rennie 

Lt.-Col. R. H. Labatt. 

Lt.-Col. G. S. Tuxford 

Lt.-Col. R. W. Paterson 

Lt.-Col. W. Hart-McHarg. . . 
Lt.-Col. L. J. Lipsett 



X^ ^21 Lt.-Col. R. L. Boyle 

iVf h Batt Lt.-Col. R. Burritt. . 

\l^ Batt Lt.-Col. H. F. McLeod 

ilth Iftt::: ::::::::. I Lt.-coi.F.o.w 

14th Batt. 
15th Batt, 
16th Batt, 
17th Batt, 
18th Batt 
19th Batt 
20th Batt 
21st Batt 
22nd Batt 
23rd Batt 
24th Batt 
25th Batt 



Lt.-Col. F. S. Meighen 
Lt.-Col. J. A. Currie..;.., 
Lt.-Col. R. G. E. Leckie. . 
Lt-Col. S. G. Robertson. . 

Lt.-Col. E. S. Wigle 

Lt.-Col. J. J. McLaren... 
Lt.-Col. J. A. W.Allen . 
Lt.-Coi. W. St. P. Hughes 
Lt.-Col. F. M. Gaudet. .. 
Lt.-Col. F.W. Fisher.... 

Lt.-Col. J. A. Gunn 

Lt.-Col. G. A. LeCain. . . . 

26th Bill. ::; ■.:::::: : Lt.-coi. j. l. McAvity. . . 

^IS ift't L :S: J. F K Sbury-. .... I 29 



3-10-14 
26- 8-15 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 

Loomis I 3-10-14 

' 3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
3-10-14 
18- 4-15 
13- 5-15 
15- 5-15 
6- 5-15 
20- 5-15 
23- 2-15 
11- 5-15 
20- 5-15 
13- 6-15 
17- 5-15 
5-15 



28tli Jaatt I i'i:-'><"J- TT 'c; Tobin " I 20- 5-15 

29th Batt I Lt.-Col. H. b. ^obin ^ ^^_ ^_^^ 



30th Batt 
31st Batt. 
32nd Batt. 
33rd Batt. 
34th Batt. 
35th Batt. 
36th Batt. 
37th Batt. 
38th Batt. 
39th Batt. 
40th Batt. 
41st Batt. 
42nd Batt. 
43rd Batt. 
44th Batt. 
45th Batt. 
46th Batt. 
47th Batt, 
48th Batt, 
49th Batt 
50th Batt 
51st Batt 
52nd Batt 
53rd Batt 
54th Batt 
55th Batt 
56th Batt 



Lt.-Col. J. A. Hall 

Lt.-Col. A. B. Bell 

Lt.-Col. H. J. Cowan 

Lt.-Col. A. Wilson 

Lt.-Col. A. J Oliver. 

Lt.-Col. F. C. McCordick 

Lt.-Col. E. C Ashton 

Lt.-Col. C. F. Beck... 

Lt.-Col. C. W. Edwards 

Lt.-Col. J. A. V. Preston 

Lt.-Col. A. Vincent. ■■•■•■■•■ 
Lt -Col. L. A. Archambault. . 

Lt.-Col. G. S. Cantlie 

Lt.-Col. R. M. Thomson 

Lt.-Col. E. R. Wayland 

Lt.-Col. F. J. Clark 

Lt.-Col. H. Snell 

Lt.-Col. W. R. Winsby 

Lt.-Col. W. J. H. Holmes.. . . 

Lt -Col. W. A. Griesbach 

Lt.-Col. E. G. Mason. ...... 

Lt.-Col. R. DeL. Harwood. . . 

Lt.-Col. J. A. D. Hulme 

Lt.-Col. R. M. Dennistoun. . . 
Lt.-Col. W. M. Davis. ...... 

Lt.-Col. J. R- Kirkpatrick . . . 
Lt -Col. W. C. G. Armstrong, 



„th Batt . . Lt.-Col. E. T. Paquette 

5^*? g^:; . Lt.-Col. H. A. Genet. . . 

Ilth Batt : : : . . Lt.-Col. H. j.. Dawson . 

fiOfh Batt . . Lt.-Col. F. A Gascoigne 

61st Batt 

62nd Batt 

63rd Batt 

64th Batt 

65th Batt 

66th Batt 

67th Batt 

68th Batt 

69th Batt 

70th Batt 

71st Batt 

72nd Batt 

73rd Batt 



Lt.-Col. F. J. Murray 
Lt.-Col. J. Hulme. ..... 

Lt.-Col. G. B. McLeod. 
Lt.-Col. H. M. Campbell 

Lt.-Col. N. Lang. .. 

Lt.-Col. J. W. McKmery 

Lt.-Col. Lome Ross „a a 

Lt.-Col. P. E. Perrett 28-4 

Lt.-Col. J. A. Dansereau \ 17-4 



17- 5-15 

23- 2-15 
13- 3-16 
23-10-15 
16-10-15 
19- 6-15 
27-11-15 
30- 5-16 

24- 6-15 
8-10-15 

18-10-15 
10- 6-15 I 

1- 6-15 
23-10-15 
13- 3-16 
23-10-15 
13-11-15 

1- 7-15 
4- 6-15 

27-10-15 
18- 4-16 
23-11-16 
29- 3-16 
22-11-15 
30-10-15 
23- 3-16 

2- 6-16 
22-11-15 
21- 4-16 

6-11-15 

21- 4-16 
23- 3-16 

22- 4-16 
31- 3-16 
18- 6-16 
28- 4-16 
21- 4-16 

16 
16 



33 

34 

47 

45 

43 

42 

45 

40 

47 

45 

44 

41 

45 

45 

45 

46 

44 

47 

39 

36 

41 

35 

42 

36 

35 

42 

42 

42 

33 

36 

37 

35 

36 

35 

40 

41 

41 

39 

40 

37 

40 

40 

i 36 
40 
40 
36 



Lt.-Col. R. I. Towers ■■■••• 2f" l"ifi 
Lt.-Col. D. M. Sutherland. ... 21- 4-16 

Lt.-Col. J. A. Clark 1?" Hfi 

Lt.-Col. P. Davidson ' 31- 6-lit 



38 

36 

36 

38 

36 

41 

37 

40 

35 

36 

42 

40 

18 

40 

36 

40 

37 

36 

36 

38 

33 

36 

34 

34 

34 

35 

35 

I 34 

1 36 



1,083 
1,052 
1,106 
1,098 
1,101 
1,084 
1,095 
1,115 
1,176 
1,085 
1,101 
1,065 
1,119 
1,028 
1,112 
1,097 
1,109 
1,096 
717 
1,081 
1,073 
1,100 
1,057 
1,097 
942 
1,082 
1,081 
1,108 
1,039 
1,078 
1,090 
980 
1,033 
962 
946 
1,102 
1,115 
1,004 
1,104 
1,038 
1,003 
1,090 
1,082 
978 
998 
1,076 
720 
1,115 
1,114 
1,020 

996 1 

1,036 

1,055 

1,032 

1,063 

1,111 

1,097 

1,070 

419 

1,091 

1,073 

1,024 

1,091 

1,037 

1,018 

1,089 

1,040 

1,071 

1,045 

1,067 

1,023 

936 

963 

1,094 

1,033 



Valcartier 

Halifax 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

London, Ont. 

Toronto 

Toronto 

Kingston 

St. Jean, P. Q. 

Quebec 

Montreal 

Halifax 

St. John, N. B. 

Winnipeg 

Winnipeg 

Vancouver 

Vancouver 

Calgary 

Winnipeg 

London, Ont. 

Guelph, Ont. 

Toronto 

Hamilton 

Sault Ste. Marie 

Ottawa 

Belleville 

Halifax 

Quebec 

Montreal 

Winnipeg 

Winnipeg 

Brandon 

Regina 

New Westminster 

Victoria 

Edmonton 

Calgary 

Edmonton 

Port Arthur 

Winnipeg 

Nelson, B. C 

Sussex, N. B. 

Calgary 

Quebec 

Toronto 

Brockville , 

Valcartier 

Winnipeg 

Vancouver 

Edmonton 

Halifax 

Saskatoon 

Edmonton 

Victoria 

Regina 

Montreal 

London, Ont. 

Woodstock, Ont. 

Vancouver 

Montreal 



ON THE WAY TO WAE — EAISING AN ARMY 



95 



Original Officers and Strength of Infantry Battalion — Continued 



Infantry Unit 



74th Batt. 

75th Batt. 

76th Batt. 

77th Batt. 

78th Batt. 

79th Batt. 

80th Batt. 

81st Batt. 

82nd Batt . 

83rd Batt. 

84th Batt. 

85th Batt. 

86th Batt. 

87th Batt. 

88th Batt. 

89th Batt. 

90th Batt. 

9l8t Batt. 

92nd Batt. 

93rd Batt. 

94th Batt. 

95th Batt. 

96th Batt. 

97th Batt. 

98th Batt. 

99th Batt. 
100th Batt. 
101st Batt. 
102nd Batt . 
103rd Batt. 
104th Batt. 
105th Batt. 
106th Batt. 
107th Batt. 
108th Batt. 
109th Batt. 
110th Batt. 
111th Batt. 
112th Batt. 
H3th Batt. 
114th Batt. 
115th Batt. 
116th Batt. 
117th Batt. 
118th Batt. 
H9th Batt. 
120th Batt. 
121st Batt. 
122nd Batt. 
123rd Batt. 
124th Batt. 
125th Batt. 
126th Batt. 
127th Batt. 
128th Batt. 
129th Batt. 
130th Batt. 
131st Batt. 
132nd Batt. 
133rd Batt. 
134th Batt. 
135th Batt. 
136th Batt. 
137th Batt. 
138th Batt. 
139th Batt. 
140th Batt. , 
141st Batt. , 
142nd Batt. . 
143rd Batt.. 
144th Batt . . 
145th Batt. . 
146th Batt.. 
147th Batt. , 
148th Batt . . 



Original Office 
Commandinq 



Lt.-Col. J. M, McCausland. . 

Lt.-Col. S. G. Beckett 

Lt.-Col. J. Ballantine 

Lt.-Col. D. R. Street 

Lt.-Col. J. Kirkcaldy 

Lt.-Col. G. Clinglan 

Lt.-Col. W. G. Ketcheson. . . 

Lt.-Col. B. H. Belson 

Lt.-Col. W. A. Lowry 

Lt.-CoL R. Pellatt 

Lt.-Col. W. D. Stewart 

Lt.-Col. E. C. Phinney 

Lt.-Col. W. W. Stewart 

Lt.-Col. I. P. Rexford 

Lt.-Col. H. J. R. CuUin 

Lt.-Col. W. W. Nasmyth 

Lt.-Col. Vv . A. Monroe 

Lt.-Col. W. J. Green 

Lt.-CoL G. G. Chisholm 

Lt.-Col. I. J. Johnston 

Lt.-Col. H. A. C. Machin 

Lt.-Col. R. K. Barker 

Lt.-Col. J. Glenn 

Lt.-Col. A. B. Clark 

Lt.-Col. H. A.Rose 

Lt.-Col. T. B. Welch 

Lt.-Col. J. B. Mitchell 

Lt.-Col. D. MacLean 

Lt.-Col. J. W. Warden 

Lt.-Col. E. C. J. L. Henniker . 

Lt.-Col. G. W. Fowler 

Lt.-Col. A. E. Ings 

Lt.-Col. R. Innes 

Lt.-Col. Glen Campbell 

Lt.-Col. G. H. Bradbury 

Lt.-Col. J. J. H. Fee 

Lt.-Col. J. B. Youngs 

Lt.-Col. J. D. Clark 

Lt.-Col. H. B. Tremaine 

Lt.-Col. W. A. Pryce Jones . . . 

Lt.-Col. A. T. Thompson 

Lt.-Col. F. V. Wedderburn . . . 

Lt.-Col. S. Sharpe 

Lt.-Col. L. J. Gilbert 

Lt.-Col. W. M. O. Lochead. . . 
Lt.-Col. T. P. T. Rowland. . . . 

Lt.-Col. D. G. Fearman 

Lt.-Col. A. W. McLelan 

Lt.-Col. D. M. Grant 

Lt.-Col. W. B. KingsmiU 

Lt.-Col. W. C. V, Chadwick. . 
Lt.-Col. M. E. B. Cutcliffe.. . . 

Lt.-Col. S. J. Hamilton 

Lt.-Col. T. Clark 

Lt.-Col. F. Pawlett 

Lt.-Col. W. Knowles 

Lt.-Col. J. F. DeHertel 

Lt.-Col. J. D. Taylor 

Lt.-Col. G. W. Mesereau. . . . 

Lt.-Col. A. C. Pratt 

Lt.-Col. A. A. Miller 

Lt.-Col. B. Robson 

Lt.-Col. R. W. Smart 

Lt.-Col. G. W. Morfitt 

Lt.-Col. R. Belcher 

Lt.-Col. W. H. Floyd 

Lt.-Col. L. H. Beer 

Lt.-Col. D. C. McKenzie 

Lt.-Col. C. M. R. Graham 

Lt.-Col. A. B. Powley 

Lt.-Col. A. W. Morley 

Lt.-Col. W. E. Forbes 

Major C. A. Lowe 

Lt.-Col. G. F. McFarland 

Lt.-Col. A. Magee 



Date of 
sailing 



Strength 

on ' 

sailing 

3. O. R 



29- 3-16 
29- 8-16 

23- 4-16 

19- 6-16 

20- 5-16 

24- 4-16 
16- 5-16 
28- 4-16 
20- 5-16 
28- 4-16 
IS- 6-16 
12-10-16 

19- 5-16 
23- 4-16 
31- 6-16 
31- 5-16 
31- 5-16 
28- 6-16 

20- 5-16 
15- 7-16 
28- 6-16 
31- 5-16 
26- 9-16 

9-16 
7-16 
5-16 
9-16 
6-16 
6-16 
7-16 
6-16 



15- 7-16 
15- 7-16 
18- 9-16 
18- 9-16 
23- 7-16 
31-10-16 
25- 9-16 
23- 7-16 
25- 9-16 
31-10-16 
23- 7-16 
23- 7-16 
14- 8-16 
23- 1-17 
8- 8-16 
14- 8-16 
14- 8-16 
2- 6-17 
7- 8-16 
7- 8-16 
7- 8-16 

14- 8-16 
22- 8-18 

15- 8-16 

22- 8-16 

23- 9-16 
31-10-18 
25-10-16 
30-10-16 

«-e-16 
22- 8-16 
25- 9-16 
22- 8-16 
22- 8-16 
25- 9-16 
25- 9-16 
29- 4-17 
31-10-16 

17- 2-17 

18- 9-16 
25- 9-16 

25- 9-16 
1.3-11-16 

26- 9-16 



34 


1,046 


36 


1,114 


36 


1,006 


38 


1,007 


37 


1,097 


37 


1,095 


35 


1,041 


36 


1,067 


34 


1,006 


35 


1,081 


36 


913 


34 


1,001 


36 


1,072 


36 


1,026 


34 


1,029 


33 


969 


36 


1,087 


32 


905 


36 


1,096 


36 


868 


36 


1,009 


36 


1,061 


29 


768 


31 


798 


36 


1,050 


36 


825 


31 


880 


36 


l,02i 


37 


968 


37 


939 


42 


1,084 


37 


1,087 


36 


1,009 


32 


965 


32 


843 


35 


775 


26 


635 


25 


637 


36 


1,090 


30 


883 


30 


679 


34 


801 


36 


943 


36 


856 


15 


231 


32 


935 


32 


838 


32 


1,033 


26 


686 


12 


369 


32 


1.004 


32 


974 


32 


822 


32 


972 


32 


988 


32 


807 


25 


573 


32 


954 


32 


809 


21 


665 


32 


1,078 


32 


910 


18 


492 


32 


932 


32 


870 


21 


495 


33 


820 


17 


466 


26 


574 


32 


883 


29 


962 


19 


524 


26 


581 


32 


910 


32 


953 



Headquarters 
on mobilization 



Toronto 

Toronto 

Barrie, Ont. 

Ottawa 

Winnipeg 

Brandon, Man. 

Belleville 

Toronto 

Calgary 

Toronto 

Toronto 

Halifax 

Hamilton 

St. Jean, P. Q. 

Victoria 

Calgary 

Winnipeg 

St. Thomas 

Toronto 

Peterborough 

Port Arthur 

Toronto 

Saskatoon 

Toronto 

Welland, Ont. 

Windsor, Ont. 

Winnipeg 

Winnipeg 

Victoria 

Victoria 

Sussex, N. B. 

Charlottetown 

Truro, N. S. 

Winnipeg 

Selkirk, Man. 

Lindsay, Ont. 

Strathford, Ont. 

Gait, Ont. 

Windsor, N. S. 

Lethbridge, Alberta 

Cayuga, Ont. 

St. Johns N B 

Uxbridge, Ont. 

Sherbrooke, P. Q. 

Kitchener 

Sault Ste. Marie 

Hamilton 

New Westminster, B. C. 

HuntsviUe & Gait, Ont. 

Toronto 

Toronto 

Brantford 

Toronto 

Toronto 

Moosejaw, Sask 

Dundas, Ont. 

Perth. Ont. 

New Westminster 

Chatham, N. B. 

Simcoe, Ont. 

Toronto 

London, Ont. 

Port Hope, Ont. 

Calgary 

Edmonton 

Cobourg 

St. Johns, N. B. 

Fort Francis 

London, Ont. 

Victoria 

Winnipeg 

Moncton, N. B. 

Kingston, Ont. 

Owen Sound 

Montreal, P. Q. 



96 CANADA AT WAR 

ORIGINAL OFFICERS AND STRENGTH OF INFANTRY BATTALION — Continued 



Infantry Unit 



149th Batt. 
150th Batt. 
151st Batt. 
152nd Batt. 
153rd Batt. 
154th Batt. 
155th Batt. 
156th Batt. 
157th Batt. 
158th Batt. 
159th Batt. 
160th Batt. 
161st Batt. 
162nd Batt. 
163rd Batt. 
164th Batt. 
165th Batt. 
166th Batt. 
167th Batt. 



168th Batt.. 
169th Batt.. 
170th Batt.. 
171st Batt.. 
172nd Batt.. 
173rd Batt.. 
174th Batt. . 
175th Batt.. 
176th Batt . . 
177th Batt.. 
178th Batt. . 
179th Batt.. 
180th Batt. . 
181st Batt. . 
182nd Batt. . 
183rd Batt. . 
184th Batt.. 
185th Batt. . 
186th Batt. . 
187th Batt.. 
188th Batt. . 
189th Batt. . 
190th Batt. . 
19l8t Batt.. 
192nd Batt.. 
193rd Batt.. 
194th Batt. . 
195th Batt. , 
196th Batt. 
197th Batt. 
198th Batt. 
199th Batt. 
200th Batt. 
201st Batt. 
202nd Batt. 
203rd Batt. 
204th Batt. 
205th Batt. 

206th Batt. 
207th Batt. 
208th Batt. 
209th Batt. 
210th Batt. 
211th Batt. 
212th Batt. 

213th Batt. 

214th Batt. 
215th Batt. 
216th Batt. 
217th Batt. 
218th Batt 



Original Officer 
Commanding 



Lt.-Col. R. G. C. Kelley 

Lt.-Col. H. Barre 

Lt.-Col. J. W. Arnott 

Lt.-Col. S. Nells , 

Lt.-Col. R. T. Pritchard. . . . . . 

Lt.-Col. A. G. F. McDonald. . 

Lt.-Col. M. K. Adams. 

Lt.-Col. T.C. D. Bedell 

Lt.-Col. D. H. McLaren 

Lt.-Col. C. Milne 

Lt.-Col. E. F. Armstrong 

Lt.-Col. A. Weir 

Lt.-Col. H. B. Combe 

Lt.-Col. J. Arthurs.. 

Lt.-Col. H. Desrosiers 

Lt.-Col. P. Domville 

Lt.-Col. L. C. D'Aigle 

Lt.-Col. W. G. Mitchell 

Lt.-Col. O. Readman 



Date of 

sailing 



Strength 

on 

sailing 

D. O. R. 



28- 3-17 
23- 9-16 

3-10-16 
3-10-16 

29- 4-17 
25-10-16 
17-10-16 
17-10-16 
17-10-16 
13-11-16 
31-10-16 
17-10-16 
30-10-16 
31-10-16 
27-11-16 
11- 4-16 

28- 3-16 
12-10-16 
Converted 

recruiti 

Lt.-Col. W. T. McMuUin 1 30-10-16 

Lt.-Col. J. G. Wright I 17-10-16 

25-10-lD 
23-11-16 
25-10-16 
13-11-16 

29- 4-17 
3-10-16 

29- 4-17 
3-05-17 
3- 3-17 
3-10-16 
13-11-16 
18- 4-17 
3- 5-17 
3-10-16 
31-10-16 
12-10-16 
28- 3-17 
15-12-16 
12-10-16 
23- 9-16 
3- 5-17 
28- 3-17 
31-10-16 
12-10-16 
13-11-16 
31-10-16 
31-10-16 
23- 1-17 
28- 3-17 
15-12-16 
3- 5-17 



Lt.-Col. L. Reed. 

Lt.-Col. Sir W. Price 

Lt.-Col. J. R. Vickers 

Lt.-Col. W. H. Bruce 

Lt.-Col. H. F. Osier 

Lt.-Col. N. Spencer 

Lt.-Col. D. Sharpe 

Lt.-Col. J. B. McPhee 

Lt.-Col. L. de la B. Girouard. 

Lt.-Col. J. Y. Reid 

Lt.-Col. R.' H. Green 

Lt.-Col. H. B. Combe 

Lt.-Col. A. A. Cockburn 

Lt.-Col. W. T. Edgecomb 

Lt.-Col. W. H. Sharpe 

Lt.-Col. F. P. Day 

Major Neil Smith 

Lt.-Col. G. W. Robinson 

Lt.-Col. C. J. Donaldson .... 

Lt.-Col. A. Piuze 

Lt.-Col. G. K. Watson 

Lt.-Col. W. G Bryan 

Captain H. E. Lyon 

Lt.-Col. J. Stanfield 

Lt.-Col. W. C. Craig 

Lt.-Col. A. C. Gomer 

Lt.-Col. D. S. Mackay 

Lt.-Col. H. G. Fonseca 

Lt.-Col. J. A. Cooper 

Lt.-Col. P. J. Trihey 

Lt.-Col. A. L. Bonnycastle. . . 

Lt.-Col. E. W. Hagarty 

Lt.-Col. T. E. Bowen 

Lt.-Col. J. E. Hansford 

Lt.-Col. W. H. Price 

Lt.-Col. R. R. Moodie 



Lt.-Col. T. Pagnuelo — 
Lt.-Col. C. W. McLean. 
Lt.-Col. T. H. Lennox . . 
Lt.-Col. W. O. Smyth. . 
Lt.-Col. W. E. Seaborn., 
Lt.-Col. W. M. Sage.. . 
Lt.-Col. E. C. Pitman. . 



18 
24 
29 
29 
17 
29 
29 
28 
32 
31 
32 
31 
28 
30 
38 
26 
24 

32 899 

into Quebec 
ng Batt. 



439 
515 
925 
743 
511 
872 
826 
778 
966 
966 
972 
978 
749 
766 
822 
710 
526 



Headquarters 
on mobilization 



Lt.-Col. B. J. McCormick . 



Lt.-Col. J. H. Hearn. . , 
Lt.-Col. H. E. Snider . . 
Lt.-Co[. F. L. Burton. 
Lt.-CoL A. B. Gillis... 
Lt.-Col. J. K. Cornwall. 



219th Batt! '.'.'. I Lt.-Col. W. H. Muirhead. 



23-11-16 
26-10-16 

28- 3-17 
Converted 

Sent draft 

2- 6-17 

21- 3-17 

31-10-16 

11- 4-17 

15-12-16 

Disbanded 

tain 

Disbanded 

tain 

18- 4-17 

29- 4-17 
18- 4-17 

2- 6-17 
17- 2-17 
12-10-16 



26 


688 


32 


887 


31 


888 


27 


574 


32 


972 


32 


930 


14 


275 


30 


847 


18 


446 


19 


549 


20 


415 


32 


890 


31 


833 


20 


597 


9 


208 


13 


431 


32 


1,042 


33 


1,008 


18 


469 


24 


744 


32 


1,004 


26 


595 


15 


372 


6 


246 


23 


424 


32 


1,020 


31 


906 


31 


998 


32 


974 


9 


306 


31 


841 


33 


86C 


17 


477 



746 
957 
789 



27 

32 

27 
into C. M. C 

Corps. 
s to BeriBuda. 

27 652 

27 686 

29 915 

18 462 

25 662 

unable to ob- 
recruits. 

unable to ob- 
recruits. 

20 

16 

30 

24 

32 

33 



595 
327 
783 
634 
883 
997 



Watford, Ont. 

Montreal 

Strathcona 

Wayburn, Sask. 

Guelph, Ont. 

Cornwall 

Belleville 

Brockville 

Barne, Ont. 

Vancouver 

Hailebury 

Walkerton, Ont. 

Clinton, Ont. 

Parry Sound 

Montreal 

Milton, Ont. 

Moncton 

Toronto 

Quebec 

Woodstock 

Toronto 

Toronto 

Quebec 

Kamloops, B. C. 

Hamilton, Ont. 

Winnipeg 

Medicine Hat 

St. Catherines 

Simcoe, Ont. 

Victoriaville 

Winnipeg 

Toronto 

Brandon, Man. 

Whitby 

Winnipeg 

Lisgar, Man. 

Halifax 

Chatham, Ont. 

Red Deer 

Prince Albert 

Frazeryille 

Winnipeg 

McLeod, Alta. 

Blairemore 

Truro, N. S. 

Edmonton 

Regina 

Camp Hughes 

Winnipeg 

Toronto 

Montreal 

Winnipeg 

Disbanded 

Edmonton 

Winnipeg 

Toronto 

Hamilton 

Montreal 

Ottawa 

Toronto 

Swift Ciirrent, Sask. 

Moosejaw, Sask. 

Vancouver, B. C. 

Winnipeg 

St. Catharines 

Wadena, Sask. 

Brantford 

Toronto 

Moosomin, Sask. 

Victoria 

Halifax 



ON THE WAY TO WAE — EAISING AN AKMY 



97 



Original Officers and Strength op Infantry Battalion — Continued 



Infantbt Unit 



Oriqinal Officer 
commandino 



Date of 
sailing 



Strength 

on 

sailing 



O. 



O. R. 



Headquarters 
on mobilization 



220th Batt. 
221st Batt. 
222nd Batt. 
223rd Batt. 
224th Batt. 
225th Batt. 
226th Batt. 
227th Batt. 
228th Batt. 
229th Batt. 
230th Batt. 
231st Batt. 
232nd Batt. 
233rd Batt. 
234th Batt. 
235th Batt. 
236th Batt. 
237th Batt. 
238th Batt. 
239th Batt. 
240th Batt. 
241st Batt. 
242nd Batt. 
243rd Batt. 
244th Batt. 
245th Batt. 
246th Batt. 
247th Batt. 
248th Batt. 
249th Batt. 
250th Batt. 



251st Batt 

252nd Batt 

253rd Batt 

254th Batt 

255th Batt 

256th Batt 

257th Batt 

258th Batt 

No. 1 University Inf. Co, 
No. 2 University Inf. Co. 
No. 3 University Inf. Co. 
No. 4 University Inf. Co. 
No. 5 University Inf. Co. 

yukon Inf. Co 

No. 1. Jewish Inf. Co. . . 
No. 1 Independ't Inf. Co, 



Lt.-Col. B. H. Brown 

Lt.-Col. M. McMeans 

Lt.-Col. J. Lightfoot 

Lt.-Col. H. Albrechsten. . . . 

Lt.-Col. A. McDougall 

Lt.-Col. J. Mackay 

Lt.-Col. R. A. G. Gillespie. . 
Lt.-Col. C. H. LeP. Jones. . 

Lt.-Col. A. Esirchman 

Lt.-Col. H. D. Pickett 

Lt.-Col. R. de Salaberry 

Lt.-Col. F. E. Leach 

Lt.-Col. R. P. Laurie 

Lt.-Col. E. Leprohon 

Lt.-Col. W. Wallace 

Lt.-CoL S. B. Scobel 

Lt.-Col. P. A. Guthrie 

Lt.-Col. Rev. C. S. Bullock. 

Lt.-Col. W. R. Smith 

Major V. L. MacDonald. . . 

Lt.-Col. E. J. Watt 

Lt.-Col. W. L. McGregor. . . 

Lt.-Col. J. B. White 

Lt.-Col. J. E. Bradshaw 

Lt.-Col. E. M. McRobie. . . . 
Lt.-Col. C. C. Ballantyne.. . 

Lt.-Col. N. H. Parson 

Lt.-Col. C. H. Ackerman. . . 

Lt.-Col. J. H. Rorke 

Lt.-Col. C. B. Keenlyside.. . 
Lt.-Col. W. H. Hastings. . . . 



Lt.-Col. G. H. Nicholson . . . 

Lt.-Col. J. J. Glass 

Lt.-Col. P. G. C. Campbell. 

Lt.-Col. A. P. Allen 

Lt.-Col. G. C. Royce 

Lt.-Col. W. A. McConnell. . 

Lt.-Col. L. T. Martin 

Lt.-Col. P. E. Blondin 

Captain P. Molson 

Captain G. C. MacDonald. . 

Lieut. F. L. TurnbuU 

Lieut. J. R. Mitchener 

Lieut. O. S. Tyndale 

Comm. Black 

Captain I. Friedman 

Major T. J. Langford. . 



29- 4-17 

18- 4-17 
13-11-16 

3- 5-17 

19- 6-16 
25- 1-17 
15-12-16 
11- 4-17 
16- 2-17 
18- 4-17 
23- 1-17 
11- 4-17 
18- 4-17 

Absorbed b 

18- 4-17 

3- 5-17 

9-11-17 

Disba 

11- 9-16 

15-12-16 

3- 5-17 

29- 4-17 

23-11-16 

2- 6-17 

28- 3-17 

3- 5-17 
2- 6-17 

Absorbed b 
2- 6-17 
21- 2-18 
Amalgama 
249th B 
6-10-17 
2- 6-17 

29- 4-17 
2- 6-17 
2- 6-17 

28- 3-17 
16- 2-17 

6-10-17 

29- 5-15 
29- 6-17 

4- 9-15 
27-11-15 

2- 4-16 
24- 1-17 
28- 3-17 

6-10-17 



446 
596 
993 
507 

1,526 
427 

1,035 
783 
756 
426 
687 
661 
286 



y 178th Batt 



279 

438 

1,029 

1,081 

738 

375 

625 

1,006 

391 

604 

274 

233 

y 236th Batt. 

13 259 

15 709 

ted with 

att. 



15 
19 
27 
nded. 
44 
26 
14 
21 
44 
16 
27 
16 
14 



170 
127 
461 
243 
284 
531 
902 
215 
250 
264 
323 
250 
250 
224 
83 
102 



Toronto. 

Winnipeg 

Winnipeg 

Winnipeg 

Ottawa 

Fernie, B. C. 

Dauphin, Man. 

Hamilton 

North Bay 

Moosejaw 

Brockville 

Vancouver 

Battleford 

Winnipeg 

Toronto 

Bellevjille 

Fredericton 

Sussex 

Valcartier 

Valcartier 

Renfrew 

Windsor 

Montreal. 

Prince Albert 

Montreal 

Montreal 

Halifax 

Peterboro 

Owen Sound 

Regina 

Winnijieg 

Winnipeg 

Lindsay 

Kingston 

Belleville 

Toronto 

Toronto 

Ottawa 

Quebec 

Montreal 

Montreal 

Montreal 

Montreal 

Montreal 

Dawson City 

Montreal 

Winnipeg 



ORIGINAL OFFICERS AND STRENGTH OF CAVALRY BATTALION 



Cavalry Unit 


■ ■ ■■ T ■■■ 

Original Officer 
Commanding 


Date of 
sailing 


Strength 

on 
saiUng 

O. O. R. 


Headquarters 
on mobiliz&tion 


R.C. D 

L. S. H 

R. N. W. M. P 

D. M. R. Depot 

Ist C. M. R. Bde 

Ist Regt. C. M. R 

ZndRegt. C. M. R 

3rd Regt. C. M. R 

2nd C. M. R. Bde 


Lt.-Col. C. M. Nelles 

Lt.-Col. A. C. MacDonald. . . . 

Major G. L. Jennings 

Lt.-Col. W. C. Brooks 

Lt.-Col. F. O. Sissons 

Lt.-Col. H. J. Stevenson 

Lt.-Col. J. C. L. Bott 

Lt.-Col. L. J. Whittaker 

Col. C. A. Smart 


3-10-14 
3-10-14 
4- 6-18 
22-10-17 
12- 6-15 
12- 6-15 
12- 6-15 
12- 6-15 
18- 7-15 
18- 7-15 
18- 7-15 
18- 7-15 


31 552 

32 532 
16 684 
18 577 
86 1,738 
Included in 
Included in 
Included in 
97 1,595 
Included in 
Included in 
Included in 


Toronto 

Winnipeg 

Regina 

Hamilton 

Winnipeg 

1st Brigade 

Ist Brigade 

1st Brigade 


tthRegt. C. M. R 


Lt.-Col. S. F. Smith 


2nd Brigade 
2nd Brigade 
2nd Brigade 


5th Regt C. M. R 


Lt.-Col. G. H. Baker 


3th Regt. C. M. R . . . . 


Lt.-Col. R. H. Ryan 



98 



CANADA AT WAE 



Original Officers and Strength of Cavalry Battalion — Continued 



Cavalbt Unit 


Ohiqinal Officer 
Commanding 


Date of 
sailing 


Strength 

on 

sailing 

O. 0. R. 


Headquarters 
on mobilization 


7thRegt. C. M. R 

8th Regt. C. M. R 

9thRegt. C. M. R 

10th Regt. C. M. R 

11th Regt. C. M. R 

12th Regt. C. M. R 

13th Regt. C. M. R 

1st Can. Div. Cav. Sq. .. 
2nd Can. Div. Cav. Sq . . 
3rd Can. Div. Cav. Sq.. . 
4th Can. Div. Cav. Sq.. . 




29- 6-15 

9-10-15 

23-11-15 

28- 4-16 

8- 7-16 
9-10-15 

28- 6-16 
3-10-14 

9- 6-15 
22- 1-16 
28- 4-16 


7 

31 

27 

23 

34 

27 

34 

6 

6 

5 

6 


159 
601 
599 
392 
883 
544 
933 
171 
166 
155 
151 




Lt -Col J R. Munro 




Lt.-Col. G. C. Hodson 

Major F. C. Washington 

Lt.-Col. G. H. Kirkpatrick.. . . 

Lt.-CoL G. MacDonald 

Lt.-CoL V. H. Holmes 

Lt.-Col. F. C. Jamieson 


Lloydmihster 
Portage la Prairie 
Vancouver 
Calgary 
Medicine Hat 
Valcartier 
London, Ont. 


Major T. W. Wright 




Lt.-Col. R. A. Carman 


Portage la Prairie 



CHAPTEE VI 
ON THE WAY TO WAK — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 

To THE soldiers in training at Valcartier there came at 
the close of a few weeks orders to leave Canada and face 
conditions of further training in England and of fierce 
unknown fighting on the soil of France or Belgium. Some 
of them knew what war was and were veterans of South 
Africa or India or varied minor conflicts. Many, indeed the 
great majority, had been born and lived in the Island King- 
dom which owed so much to its small but gallant army, and 
where people had, forty-odd years before, seen the Ger- 
mans smash their way into Paris; a minority, of native- 
born Canadians, were filled with intense interest in their 
first sight of the historic land of their fathers and all were 
anxious for the opportunity to share in that mighty conflict 
which was dying red the soil of two famous countries as the 
huge German war machine advanced and fought and 
receded and finally entrenched itself for the first winter of 
the War. 

On September 21, 1914, the Canadian Premier and other 
Ministers visited Valcartier to say farewell to the troops; 
on the 24th Colonel Hughes told the press at Ottawa, in a 
curiously uncensored statement, that a portion of the Force 
was on its way to England and that the other transports 
were being quickly loaded. Meanwhile, on September 22, 
in local silence and secrecy, the Contingent had commenced 
to embark from historic Quebec into the great line of trans- 
ports which awaited them and, as each one was filled, it 
quietly proceeded down the spacious St. Lawrence toward 
the Gulf, where a convoy of British warships was waiting 
about eight miles from Gaspe. There were thirty-two ves- 



[99] 



100 CANADA AT WAE 

sels used to transport the men to England and the last did 
not join the procession down the river until October 1. At 
Gaspe they were awaited and all departed together on 
October 3. The transports included the Adania, Athenia, 
Alaunia, Arcadian, Bermudian, Cassandria, Carribean, 
Corinthian, Franconia, Grampian, Ivernia, Lapland, Lau- 
rentic, Lakonia, Manitou, Monmouth, Montreal, Monte- 
zuma, Meg antic, Scotian, Sicilian, Scandinavian, Saxonia, 
Royal George, Royal Edward, Ruthenia, Tyrolia, Tunisian, 
Virginia, Zealand. The flagship of Rear- Admiral Rosslyn 
E. Wemyss, c.m.g., d.s.o., in command of this historic fleet 
of transports and ten battleships, cruisers, destroyers, etc., 
was the Charyhdis. Amongst the cruisers were the Talbot, 
the Eclipse, and the Diana; the Dreadnoughts Glory and 
Queen Mary met them two or three days out at sea; with 
the convoy a little later was H. M. S. Lion. On each trans- 
port as it sailed away from Quebec there was read a mes- 
sage from Field Marshal, H. E. H. the Duke of Connaught : 
"On the eve of your departure from Canada I wish to con- 
gratulate you on having the privilege of taking part, with 
the other Forces of the Crown, in fighting for the honour 
of the King and Empire. You have nobly responded to the 
call of duty, and Canada will know how to appreciate the 
patriotic spirit that animates you. I have complete confi- 
dence that you will do your duty, and that Canada will have 
every reason to be proud of you. You leave these shores 
with the knowledge that all Canadian hearts beat for you, 
and that our prayers and best wishes will ever attend you. 
May God bless you and bring you back victorious." 

The Contingent arrived at Plymouth on October 14 and 
was disembarked on the 15th at that ancient home of Drake 
and one-time seat of England's sea-power. A great popu- 
lar welcome was accorded the men before they entrained 
for Salisbury Plain — a well-known place which had been 
used for camping and drilling of British soldiers during 
many years. The people of Plymouth were greatly sur- 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 101 

prised when line after line of battleships and transports 
came in sight and glided into port ; it had been understood 
that the landing would be at Southampton (some printed 
statements said Bristol and Liverpool) but submarine 
dangers had intervened. To the Dominion Government 
on October 16 Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the 
Admiralty, sent the following despatch: ''Canada sends 
her aid at a timely moment. The conflict moves forward 
and fiercer struggles lie before us than any which have 
yet been fought." To Major-General E. A. H. Alderson, 
C.B., in charge of the disembarkation, came a telegram from 
F. M. Lord"Kitchener : ' ' Will you please convey my cordial 
greetings to the splendid Contingent from Canada which 
has just reached these shores to take their share in the 
cause of the Mother Country. I am confident that they will 
play their part with gallantry, and show by their soldier- 
like bearing that they worthily represent the great Domin- 
ion from which they come." 

At the Camp (twenty miles from Salisbury) Canadians 
found that Staff officers, assisted by Territorial troops and 
New Zealanders who had recently enlisted in England, had 
been working for weeks to prepare matters for their occu- 
pancy and, according to press correspondents, they all 
expressed gratification at the comforts provided and 
arrangements made. General Alderson was appointed in 
command and his thirty-six years of experience in the 
Transvaal, Egypt, Soudan, Mashonaland, South African 
War, and India, gave him background and knowledge for 
this new and strenuous period. In it the first question that 
came up was that of a liquor canteen ; in this he had to meet 
the temperance convictions of Colonel Hughes — who, how- 
ever, had no real jurisdiction in the matter — and the 
extreme views of some Canadians and women's organiza- 
tions who, of course, had no technical status. Addressing 
the troops on October 22 the General declared that they 
would be treated like men, not boys. The older soldiers 



102 CANADA AT WAE 

would be relied upon to keep the j^ounger in order, and, 
amid prolonged cheers, he stated that certain difficulties 
had been overcome so that within a few days the usual 
British canteen would be opened in the various Camps. It 
was said that the drastic temperance policy adopted by the 
Minister at Valcartier, with such apparent popular appro- 
val in Canada, followed by a tedious sea voyage, had 
developed conditions which made reaction inevitable and 
caused some at least of the not very important troubles 
afterwards so much discussed and unduly magnified in the 
Dominion. Eventually the Canadian Government issued a 
statement on November 30 that: ''According to official 
information the complete abolition of the 'wet canteen,' 
so called, resulted in excesses and disorders among a few of 
the men when they obtained leave of absence, and resorted 
to neighbouring towns and villages where the opportunity 
to purchase liquor presented itself. After careful considera- 
tion, General Alderson determined that it would be better 
to have a regulated wet canteen, at which beer might be 
sold at certain hours and under careful supervision; such 
canteens to be opened for one hour at noon and for three 
hours in the evening. Beer only is sold and non-commis- 
sioned officers are always on duty. The Government is 
assured by the War Office that the trouble in the neighbour- 
ing villages, which occasioned much concern at first, has 
practically ceased since the opening of these regulated and 
supervised canteens." 

Not far from the Canadian troops were quartered 200,000 
British soldiers under training ; at Bustard was established 
the Divisional headquarters, and here Colonel Victor Wil- 
liams acted as Camp Commandant for the whole Force, 
while Lieut.-Col. Mercer was in charge of a Bustard Camp 
contingent of about 10,000 men ; leave was easily obtained 
during some weeks by the individual soldier who soon found 
that the word "Canada" on his shoulder strap was a magic 
symbol, winning kindness and courtesy and, at times also, 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 103 

a ready road to trouble. Difficulties as to discipline devel- 
oped early and at first were not thought of seriously owing 
to the long voyage and i)ersonal characteristics in officers 
and men which it was supposed time and rules of rigid 
military custom and necessity would easily subdue. Every 
public honour that could be paid the Contingent was readily 
accorded. F. M. Earl Koberts, as Colonel-in- Chief of the 
Overseas Forces, addressed them on October 26. On 
November 4 the King and Queen Mary, accompanied by a 
large staff and by F. M. Lord Kitchener, F. M. Lord Eob- 
erts, Hon. Gr. H. Perley, Sir Richard McBride and others, 
visited the Camp. Meamvhile General Alderson was get- 
ting into close personal touch mth officers and men. He 
told them, quite frankly, that they were a splendid body of 
men but were weak in discipline and that this was the great- 
est fault of the Division. 

Toward the end of October the rain commenced and con- 
tinued in a heav}^ and unusual degree ; for weeks the Camp 
was a mass of mud, the discomforts were many and exces- 
sive, the drill and transport and training were all alike 
interfered with. During this gloomy period 50,000 new 
books Avere provided and distributed amongst the various 
Camp libraries, Avhile from private sources — in many cases 
by clergymen — there were supplied thousands of playing 
cards. Ladies in limousines and motors distributed great 
quantities of cigarettes. Meantime steady and hard work 
was the order of days. Heavy tramping over wet and 
sodden downs, skirmishing work by battalions with sudden 
dashes of men in full attack, and sharp onsets upon a sup- 
posed enemy by night, were interspersed with ordinary drill 
by day, rifle practice and bayonet exercise. Endurance 
was especially taught and the weather proved a great 
though severe test. Officers who had enthusiasm in abun- 
dance but lacked sense of responsibility, and necessarily the 
basis of war experience, were got into the splendid form 
which afterwards worked such great results. So with pri- 
vates who lacked the spirit of discipline until they under- 



104 CANADA AT WAR 

stood its vital nature in actual war. By the end of the year 
the feeling of the men was illustrated in a remark attributed 
to one of them: ''The King has seen us, Kitchener has 
seen us and Lord Eoberts has seen us. Now just let us 
see the Germans ! ' ' The chief officers of this force — after- 
wards famous as the 1st Canadian Division — were as 
follows : 

Military Secretary to Commander Col. J. C. MacDougall. 

Senior General Staff Officer Brig.-Gen. K. C. B. Lawrence.* 

General Staff Officer Col. E. H. Heard.* 

General Staff Officer Lieut.-Col. A. H. Macdonnell, D.s.O. 

General Staff Officer Lieut.-Col. G. C. W. Gordon-Hall. 

General Staff Officer Lieut.-Col. C. H. Mitchell. 

General Staff Officer Lieut.-Col. H. J. Lamb. 

Assistant Quartermaster-General Col. T. Birehall Wood, E.A.* 

Commander Divisional Mounted Troops Lieut.-Col. F. C. Jamieson. 

Commander Divisional Artillery Lieut.-Col. H. E. Burstall. 

Commander Divisional Engineers Lieut.-Col. C. J. Armstrong. 

Commander 1st Artillery Brigade Lieut.-Col. E. W. B. Morrison, D.s.O. 

Commander 2nd Artillery Brigade Lieut.-Col. J. J. Creelman. 

Commander 3rd Artillery Brigade Lieut.-Col. J. H. Mitchell. 

Commander 1st Infantry Brigade Lieut.-Col. M. S. Mercer. 

Commander 2nd Infantry Brigade Lieut.-Col. A. W. Currie. 

Commander 3rd Infantry Brigade Col. K. E. W. Turner, v.C, D.s.O. 

Commander No. 1 Field Ambulance. . . Lieut.-Col. A. E. Ross. 
Commander No. 2 Field Ambulance. . . Lieut.-Col. D. W. McPherson. 
Commander No. 3 Field Ambulance. . . Lieut.-Col. W. L. Watt. 
Commander Royal Canadian Dragoons. Lieut.-Col. C. M. Nelles. 
Commander Lord Strathcona's Horse. . Lieut.-Col. A. H. Macdonnell, D.s.O. 
Commander Royal Can. Horse Artillery Lieut.-Col. H. A. Panet, D.s.o. 

Commander 4th Infantry Brigade Lieut.-Col. J. E. Cohoe. 

Commander 1st Field Battery Maj. C. H. L. Sharman. 

Commander 2nd Field Battery Lieut.-Col. C. H. MacLaren. 

Commander 3rd Field Battery Maj. R. H. Britton. 

Commander 4th Field Battery Maj. A. G. L. McNaughton. 

Commander 5th Field Battery Maj. E. G. Hanson. 

Commander 6th Field Battery Lieut.-Col. H. G. McLeod. 

Commander 7th Field Battery Maj. W. B. M. King. 

Commander 8th Field Battery Maj. H. G. Carscallon. 

Commander 9th Field Battery Maj. E. A. McDougall. 

Commander Ammunition Column Lieut.-Col. J. J. Penhale. 

Commander Divisional Signal Column. Maj. F. A. Lister. 
Commander Divisional Train Lieut.-Col. W. A. Simson. 

Besides these Units there were the Automobile and 
Machine Gun Brigade, various Line of Communication 

* These three officers were appointed in England by General Alderson. See 
pages 94-7 for Battalion Commanders. 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 105 

Units, a Clearing Hospital, two Stationary Hospitals and 
two General Hospitals, a Eemount Department under Lieut.- 
Col. W. Hendrie, etc. Many of the officers mentioned above 
were destined to write their names large in Canadian his- 
tory ; to fill an important place in the operations of the "War 
as it was touched by an army of 100,000 splendid fighters 
in a great British force which was eventually to number 
2,000,000 men; to receive every honour that a grateful 
imperial country could confer. After three months and 
more of final training in the preliminaries of war, of more 
or less drastic drilling and the endurance of unforeseen, 
unusual climatic conditions, of experiences in hospitality 
and friendship which many officers and men would cherish 
for a lifetime, Canada's 1st Division in the Great War left 
England for service at the front in February, 1915. 

Meanwhile, however, a single Canadian Eegiment — a 
veritable battalion of heroes — had been raised in Montreal, 
had passed through Valcartier, had received a hasty addi- 
tion to its training in England and been rushed to France 
where its ensuing history was one long epic of endurance, 
gallantry and devotion. The Princess Patricia's Canadian 
Light Lif antry was, in fact, the first fighting contribution of 
Canada to the World-War ; it was practically disbanded by 
death after six months of strenuous struggle, though 
revived and re-organized under its historic name by the best 
blood of Canadian Universities ; it commenced in France and 
Flanders the process of proving to the world that Canadians 
of English birth or Canadians born in Canada were of the 
same quality and fibre as British troops who had never 
before left the shores of England, Ireland or Scotland. Of 
these 1,100 men who left Canada for England in September, 
1914, not more than ten per cent had been born in Canada 
but all were Canadian in spirit, and many in home ties, while 
holding fast to their love for the soil of Britain and the 
great traditions of their race. Most of them were veterans 

8 



106 CANADA AT WAR 

of the South African and other wars and, to them, the new 
call of Empire and battle was instant and imperative. They 
had come from every part of Canada, they represented the 
very essence of courage, love of adventure, the spirit of war, 
the dash and acquired optimism of the Western prairie. 
Formed immediately after the declaration of war, on the 
initiative of A. Hamilton Gault, of Montreal, the Eegiment 
was first commanded by Lieut.-Col. F. D. Farquhar, d.s.c, 
of the Coldstream Guards and Military Secretary to the 
Governor- General of Canada. Other officers, as originally 
gazetted, were as follows : 

Second in Command — Major A. Hamilton Gault. 
Adjutant — Capt. H. C. Buller. 
Quartermaster — Hon.-Lieut. C. A. Wake. 
Paymaster — Hon.-Capt. D. H. MacDougall. 
Medical Officer — Major C. B. Keenan. 

The Canadian forces were rapidly increased. On Feb- 
ruary 22, 1915, it was announced in the British Commons 
that a mixed Canadian Brigade composed of 2,000 Cavalry 
and including the Eoyal Horse Artillery, the Eoyal Cana- 
dian Dragoons, Strathcona's Horse and the 2nd King 
Edward's Light Horse, had been formed at Salisbury Plain 
in a supplementary capacity with Colonel the Et. Hon. 
J. E. B. Seely, m.p., lately Secretary of State for "War, as 
Brig.- General in command — on the recommendation of Sir 
John French under whom he had served in South Africa. 
Meanwhile the 2nd Canadian Division was on its way to 
England and arrived by installments during March, April, 
and May. It was in command of Major-Gen. S. B. Steele, 
C.B., M.V.O., who was afterwards succeeded by Brig.-Gen. 
E. E. W. Turner, v.c, c.b., d.s.o., upon the former's appoint- 
ment to command the Shorncliffe Military District. As 
finally constituted the Infantry included the 4th Brigade, 
led by Brig.-Gen. Lord Brooke, the 5th Brigade led by 
Lieut.-Col. David Watson, and the 6th Brigade, led by 
Lieut.-Col. H. D. B. Ketchen. The 2nd Divisional Artillery 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 107 

was commanded by Lieut.-Col. H. C. Thacker and the 2nd 
Divisional Engineers by Lient.-Col. J. Houliston. 

At this time and in succession to General Alderson, Brig.- 
Gen. J. C. MacDougall was in command of the Canadian 
forces in England with Col. W. E. Ward as Chief Pay- 
master ; General Steele, in command of the Division, had as 
General Staff Officers Lieut.-Col. Garnet B. Hughes, of Vic- 
toria; Major J. L. E. Parsons, of Winnipeg, and Major C. A. 
Ker, D.s.o. ; the Assistant- Adjutant and Q.M.G. was Lieut.- 
Col. P. E. Thacker, of Halifax, while Lieut.-Col. J. T. 
Fotheringham, m.d., was Assistant Director of Medical 
Services. There was also a Canadian Training Division. 
On September 2 the 2nd Division was reviewed by the 
King and shortly afterwards left for the front. During 
1916 the Canadian troops in England varied greatly in num- 
bers, were constantly under training, and acted as reserves 
to the main force of three Divisions, and eventually four, 
which went to the Front. Official figures of March 18 
showed 60,000 troops in Belgium, 44,000 in Britain or on the 
way there, and 134,000 in Canada. Forces sent abroad 
from Canada up to December 31, 1916, were stated by Sir 
Eobert Borden as totalling 280,562, of which 110,000 were 
in France (including some Hospital detachments in the 
Mediterranean) and 10,000 under orders to go there from 
England. The total number despatched Overseas during 
1916 was 165,000 men ; of those still in England were 3,998 
men in Forestry work and Eailway construction, 2,752 in 
the Pay and Eecord Offices, 1,497 in the Headquarters Staff, 
Veterinary, Postal and other services, 8,686 in the Medical 
Service, Ordinance stores and Army Service Corps — a 
total of 17,383. The casualties to date were 70,263. Mean- 
while, a 5th Division under Maj.-Gen. Garnet Hughes was 
organized and held in reserve well into 1917 but was event- 
ually broken up as necessary reinforcements. 



108 CANADA AT WAR 

In this connection an important matter was the pay- 
ment of the heavy expenses involved in maintaining these 
forces in England and at the Front. In a cable of April 27, 
1915, the Canadian Government had formally expressed its 
desire to bear the whole cost of the Canadian Contin- 
gents sent for service in the War. It was then agreed that 
those services in the field directed by the Imperial Govern- 
ment, and which could not be directly charged to the 
Dominion Government, should be afterwards adjusted at an 
estimated rate per head based on the average cost of main- 
taining troops in the field. The scope and amount of the 
rate to be fixed were discussed personally between Mr. 
Secretary Bonar Law, Sir George Perley (on behalf of the 
Canadian Government) and Sir Charles Harris (on behalf 
of the War Office), and a rate of 6s per head per diem 
arrived at. As the estimates were based on the assumption 
that the Dominion troops took the field fully equipped and, 
while there, were maintained from Imperial sources, it was 
stated (1) that the articles issued in the field to maintain 
or replace articles of original equipment would be the prop- 
erty of the Dominion Government at the end of the War, 
(2) that it would be open to the Dominion Government to 
raise a counter-claim against the Imperial Government for 
any rifles or other articles covered by the rate and which 
might have been issued in the field out of Canadian stocks. 
Australia and New Zealand took the same course and Sir 
Eobert Borden in the Commons on February 1, 1917, gave 
a statement in this regard which may be summarized 
briefly : 

1. The expenses borne in the first instance by 
the Imperial Government for Canadian troops in 
England (rations, forage, clothing, stores, etc.) 
are recovered currently through the ordinary 
medium of accounts. 

2. As to expenses in the field it is not prac- 
ticable to keep account of actual issues and it is 
the intention of the Imperial Government (subject 



ON THE WAY TO WAK — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 109 

to the concurrence of the Dominion Government) 
that payment should take some simple form such 
as an estimated rate per head. 

3. There are no accounts which show the cost 
of supplies and services to Canadian troops in 
France and the figures can only be arrived at by 
estimate. That of April, 1916, was 6s per day per 
man and is considered reasonable. 

The advances by the Imperial Government for the maiur 
tenance of troops, etc., totalled during the War $609,000,000, 
but it was exceeded by the credits established in Canada 
($709,000,000) for British purchases of munitions and sup- 
plies. To control all these matters of Canadian war interest 
in England — and associated conditions in France — required 
a large and effective organization. During all these years 
of war Sir George H. Perley was acting High Commissioner 
for Canada in England and eventually was induced to 
accept the position in a regular and remunerated way — 
having refused payment for his services in the earlier 
years. It was, however, a divided control between Sir 
George and the Minister of Militia at Ottawa with a not 
always satisfactory condition during the regime of General 
Hughes. The oversight of Canadian troops and their train- 
ing in England, the care and welfare of Canadian troops in 
France, the oversight of expenditures running into the hun- 
dreds of millions, the charge of Medical services and 
wounded and Hospitals abroad, the obtaining of Munition 
and other contracts for Canada, the Army supply contracts, 
and a myriad other elements of military activity and 
organization in England made up a sufficiently complex sys- 
tem without any complication such as division in control. 
By the close of 1916, however, matters had sifted down 
and Sir George Perley had accepted (October 31) the 
post of Minister of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada 
with enlarged powers and a Military Council composed of 
Brig.-Gen. P. E. Thacker, c.m.g., as Adjutant General, Brig.- 
Gen. A. D. McEae as Acting Quartermaster and Chief 



110 CANADA AT WAR 

Executive Officer, and Ma j. -Gen. E. E. W. Turner as Com- 
mander of the Canadian troops in England. 

In the middle of 1917 a further re-organization took place 
and Canadian military affairs in England were divided 
into four branches: (1) that of the Military Secretary in 
charge of Major F. F. Montague; (2) that of the General 
Staff in charge of Lieut.-Col. H. F. McDonald, c.m.g., d.s.o. ; 
(3) that of the Adjutant-General, in charge of Brig.-Gen. 
P. E. Thacker, c.b., c.m.g. ; that of the Quarter-master Gen- 
eral in charge of Brig.-Gen. A. D. McRae, c.b. Maj. -Gen- 
eral J. "W. Carson had early in the year retired from his 
position as Special Agent of the Dominion Minister of 
Militia. In May, 1918, a Canadian Headquarters Staff in 
England was created with Lieut.-General Sir E. E. W. 
Turner as Chief of Staff. Shortly before this Sir Edward 
Kemp had retired from the Ministry of Militia at Ottawa 
in which he had succeeded Sir Sam Hughes — and relieved 
the High Commissioner of the military side of his duties 
as Overseas Minister. During all this period Sir George 
Perley had been greatly aided by Sir Max Aitken, m.p., 
as Eecords Officer and Eye-Witness at the front. It was 
a work carried on side by side with multifarious other 
duties which helped to raise that astute and really brilliant 
young Canadian to the Peerage as Lord Beaverbrook and 
to make him a power in British politics and, finally, a 
member of Mr. Lloyd George's Government. 

In these years there had been some inevitable friction 
between a Minister of Sir Sam Hughes' temperament and 
the War officials in England. Some Canadian equipment 
was, undoubtedly, '^ scrapped" as not harmonizing with a 
uniformity considered absolutely essential in such huge 
army movements and requirements as were involved; 
trouble was inevitable over supplies such as boots or rifles 
prepared amidst the rush and inexperience of a young coun- 
try in its first great war. The Canadian soldiers, however, 



ON THE WAY TO WAK — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 111 

received every care that could be given under difificult con- 
ditions and, when on leave, the hospitality in England was 
almost too generous. Wet canteens were an immemorial 
privilege of the British soldier and they were continued to 
the Canadian troops, but the distribution of liquor was lim- 
ited and guarded and was chiefly beer; in the trenches, 
amid conditions of serious wet and dampness, something 
stronger was considered as important as food or medicine. 
At Bramshott and Shorncliff e not only was the Y. M. C. A. 
conspicuous in its work but English religious interests 
provided fully for this side of camp life with all kinds of 
concerts and services. A small army of 150 Canadian 
Chaplains, representing every denomination and including 
Jews and the Salvation Army, were in attendance in Eng- 
land, or at the Front, with Colonel the Eev. E. H. Steacey 
in charge. 

As to training, a great deal was needed. In this terrific 
struggle one of the distinct essentials was found to be dis- 
cipline; some of the worst British disasters of the "War 
and some Canadian losses were due to failure in obeying 
orders. Coolness, courage, success, were all dependent upon 
discipline and too many Canadians at first were filled with 
the idea that courtesy meant servility, that obedience was 
not quite manly. Delays in sending Canadian troops to 
the Front were due very often to the long course of train- 
ing required — as, for instance, in the matter of careless- 
ness in trenches, which caused many a Canadian death in 
the first months at the Front. Another subject not mider- 
stood in Canada was that of surplus officers. During many 
months, whenever wastage in France required reinforce- 
ment — as at the Somme, where on one occasion 19,000 men 
were called for in a hurry — the best trained men in the 
Eeserve battalions were sent forward and the officers of 
higher rank were, in most cases, not required. There was, 
therefore, an accumulation of these officers in England 



112 CANADA AT WAR 

which really became a problem. Many of them were too 
old to revert to the rank of Lieutenant or to go as privates, 
or else could not afford to do so ; in one case 80 did go for- 
ward as supernumerary lieutenants with no real duties and 
they joined the men in a certain trench attack. According 
to the story all but 20 were casualties.* 

During these years the Canadian Hospitals in England 
and at the Front were many and they did a great work with 
the small beginning of 10,000 beds at the close of 1915. 
There was a period during which matters of management 
in England and the work of the Army Medical Corps were 
in a state of flux and criticism very freely expressed. But, 
before and after, and even during that period, there was 
absolute truth in the statement (April, 1916) by Major F. 
McKelvey Bell, of the No. 2 Hospital in France, that: 
*'The medical equipment and personnel of the Canadian 
Hospitals is of a type and quality that is a matter of pride 
to all Canadians. The chain or organization is so perfect 
that there is not a single break in its continuity from the 
farthest point in the firing-line, through France and Eng- 
land, and even back to Canada. The soldier is treated 
throughout, not as a public care, but as the private patient 
of the Dominion." 

From the first, however, there had been discussion 
between those who wanted to keep Canadians in the Cana- 
dian hospitals and those who desired to allocate the 
wounded Canadians wherever it was most convenient to the 
British authorities — to make the hospitals general to all. 
To some extent this latter policy was inevitable in times 
of stress but, otherwise, the Canadian officials preferred 
concentration as being the cheapest and most convenient 
system. They desired, as far as possible, to keep the units 
of their forces — the unfit, the sick and the wounded — 
under observation and control; within easy reach of the 
Medical, Record, Pay and other departments, in close touch 

* Lieut.-Col. J. D. Taylor, M.P., Commons, Februaxy 6, 1917. 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 113 

with their own comrades, whether sick or well, and within 
reach of the flow of presents and comforts from Canada. 
On the other hand many soldiers returning to Canada spoke 
of the splendid way they were treated in English hospitals, 
and afterwards in their convalescent stages, and of the 
interest attached to meeting men from all parts of the 
Empire. Sir Sam Hughes however, with his well-known 
prejudices against the British War Office and V. A. D. 
Nurses, etc., wanted the men altogether, segregated under 
Canadian roofs and control, directly in the care of the 
Canadian Army Medical Corps ; by 1916 other matters had 
developed and conditions appeared to indicate the need of 
inquiry and some re-organization of the bases of manage- 
ment in the Canadian hospitals. 

In order to look into the situation and inspect all Can- 
adian hospitals and medical institutions in England, **to 
which the Canadian Government in any way contributes". 
Colonel H. A. Bruce, m.d., of Toronto, was appointed (July 
31) as Special Inspector-General of Medical Services; with 
him, as a Committee of Inquiry, were also appointed Col- 
onel F. A. Eeid, Colonel Wallace Scott, Lieut.-Col. Walter 
McKeown, Lieut.-Col. F. W. E. Wilson and Captain Charles 
Hunter — the four latter being well-known Canadian physi- 
cians or surgeons. When finally submitted to the Govern- 
ment and made public on October 15, after an investigation 
lasting until September 26, the Report of Colonel Bruce 
and his colleagues was unanimous and elaborate and proved 
to be a serious reflection upon the medical administration 
of the Canadian forces. The following extract indicates 
the charges made: **The Medical Board department prac- 
tically runs itself ; there is no central control, no uniformity 
of standard among the different boards, no supply of an 
adequately permanent and efficient personnel for medical 
boards, no records of a satisfactory nature available 
regarding very many casualties, no instructions regard- 



114 CANADA AT WAE 

ing pensions." Lack of co-ordination, the need of concen- 
tration for hospitals and patients and nurses and medical 
attendance were the main points at issue. 

The Report created a sensation in Medical and Political 
circles and caused rumours of the resignation and return 
to Canada of Surg.-General G. Carleton Jones, who was 
in charge ; it was obviously approved by Sir S. Hughes in 
a speech at Toronto ; it was apparently disapproved by the 
Canadian Premier, who instructed General Jones to remain 
in England, and by Sir George Perley, whose War Con- 
tingent Hospital at Beachborough came under the V. A. D, 
censure of the Committee; Sir William Osier and others 
contended in England that General Jones had not been 
heard and that he should have been a member of the Bruce 
Board of Inquiry. The latter replied to the charges in an 
elaborate document which, however, had no publicity in 
Canada. On November 25 the War Office, apparently at 
the request of Sir George Perley as Minister of Overseas 
Services, appointed a Board of Inquiry to investigate the 
conditions and to deal with the Bruce Report and the Gen- 
eral's reply. The members were as follows: Surg.-Gen. 
Sir William Baptie, Director of Medical Services at the 
War Office; Colonel E. C. Ashton, m.d., in command 
Shorncliffe Division; Colonel J. T. Fotheringham, m.d., 
Assistant Medical Director, 2nd Canadian Division at the 
Front; Colonel A. E. Ross, c.m.g., m.d.. Assistant Medical 
Director, 1st Canadian Division; Lieut.-Col. J. M. Elder, 
M.D., of No. 3 General Hospital, Boulogne. 

At the close of the year this new Report was made public 
after the evidence of both Dr. Bruce and Surgeon-General 
Jones had been taken at great length, as well as that of a 
number of prominent officials of the War Office and the 
Hospitals. Its conclusions were not altogether conclusive. 
In many points it partly agreed with Dr. Bruce, and partly 
disagreed; its tendency was to describe his criticisms as 
too strong or sweeping. In general it was said that (1) 



ON THE WAY TO WAE — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 115 

Colonel Bruce was sometimes misled by a lack of intimate 
knowledge of army organization or the inter-relation of 
various branches of the Service; that (2) large numbers 
of men had been passed by Medical officers who were unfit, 
owing to age or physical disability, and that this condition 
still continued; that (3) such arguments as Colonel Bruce 
adduced for segregation might be met by an extension of 
the system of Canadian convalescent hospitals and organ- 
ized co-operation as to inspection between the Canadian 
and Imperial services; that (4) the Board failed to dis- 
cover any general sentiment amongst Canadian troops in 
hospital favourable to segregation which, incidentally, 
would involve Canadian accommodation for 9,000 more 
patients — apart from large battle casualties; that (5) 
additional inspection of all hospitals was desirable, that 
the Canadian staffs in the Shorncliffe V. A. D. group were 
too large, and that Surgeon-General Jones had allowed 
glaring departures from accepted Service methods at cer- 
tain Canadian hospitals to pass unnoticed. 

In succeeding years and under re-organization plans the 
segregation proposals were partly carried out despite vig- 
ourous protests from Lady Drummond of the Canadian 
Eed Cross in England, Mrs. A. E. Gooderham of the Imper- 
ial Daughters of the Empire in Canada and many others. 
It may be added that during the "War 1,617 Medical officers, 
2,002 Nursing Sisters and 12,382 other ranks of the C. A. 
M. C. went overseas from Canada; that there were at the 
end of the War 31 Canadian hospitals and field ambulances 
in France and 20 such hospitals in England ; that in Canada 
there were 65 military hospitals for returning soldiers with 
11,786 beds available ; that by the close of 1918 over 22,000 
invalided men had been brought back to Canada. The fol- 
lowing is an official list of the chief Canadian Expeditionary 
Force Hospitals in England and France, with the exception 
of one opened in France during June, 1918, at Joinville 
Le Point: 



116 CANADA AT WAR 

CANADIAN GENERAL HOSPITALS 

Hospital Location OflScer Coimnanding 

No. 1 General Hospital. . . France Lieut.-Col. J. G. Gunn. 

No. 2 General Hospital . . . France Col. G. S. Rennie. 

No. 3 General Hospital. . . France Col. H. S. Birkett, c.M.6. 

No. 4 General Hospital... Basingstoke Lieut.-Col. W. H. Hendry. 

No. 5 General Hospital. . . Liverpool Lieut.-Col. J. L. Biggar. 

No. 6 General Hospital. . . France Col. G. E. Beauchamp. 

No. 7 General Hospital. . . France Col. F. Etherington. 

No. 8 General Hospital. . . France Lieut.-Col. H. R. Casgrain. 

No. 9 General Hospital . . . Shorncliffe Lieut.-Col. E. G. D. Davis. 

No. 10 General Hospital. . . Brighton Col. W. McKeovra. 

No. 11 General Hospital. . . Shorncliffe Lieut.-Col. W. A. Scott. 

No. 12 General Hospital. . . Bramshott Lieut.-Col. H. E. Kendell. 

No. 13 General Hospital. . . Hastings Lieut.-Col. J. E. Williams, D.s.O. 

No. 14 General Hospital . . . Eastbourne Lieut.-Col. E. Seaborn. 

No. 15 General Hospital. . . Taplow Lieut.-Col. W. L. Watt. 

No. 16 General Hospital. . . Orpington Lieut.-Col. D. A. McPherson. 

CANADIAN CONVALESCENT HOSPITALS 

Bearwood Wokingham Maj. R. E. Woodhouse. 

Bromley Bromley Lieut.-Col. J. R. Speir. 

Hillingdon House Uxbridge Lieut.-CoL J. A. Sponagle. 

I. 0. D. E. and Perkins Bull. London Lieut.-Col. H. M. Robertson. 

King's Canadian Bushey Park .... Lieut.-Col. J. D. McQueen. 

Monk's Horton Monk's Horton . . Lieut.-Col. Geo. Clingham. 

Woodcote Park Epsom Lieut.-Col. L. E. W. Irving.. 

D.s.O. 

CANADIAN SPECIAL HOSPITALS 

Canadian Red Cross Buxton Lieut.-Col. F. Guest. 

Etchinghill Etchinghill Lieut.-Col. W. F. M. McKin- 

non. 

Granville Special Buxton Lieut.-Col. J. S. Clark. 

West Cliff Eye and Ear West Cliff Lieut.-Col. S. H. McKee, C.M.G. 

, Witley Camp Witley Camp Maj. L. C. Harris. 

Lenham Lenham Lieut.-Col. W. M. Hart. 

Officers' Hospital Broadstairs Lieut.-Col. C. H. Gilmour. 

CANADIAN STATIONARY HOSPITALS 

No. 1 Stationary Hospital . . France Colonel H. C. S. Elliot. 

No. 2 Stationary Hospital . . France Lieut.-Col. A. G. Farmer. 

No. 3 Stationary Hospital . . France Lieut.-Col. C. H. Reason. 

No. 4 Stationary Hospital . . France Lieut.-Col. S. W. Prowse. 

A word must be said here as to the unselfish, continuous, 
and earnest war-work of hundreds and eventually thous- 
ands of Canadian women in England. As an organization 
the chief factor was the Canadian War Contingent Asso- 
ciation of which Sir George Perley was President and J. G. 
Colmer, c.m.g., Hon. Secretary, with Lady Perley and Mrs. 
McLaren Brown as President and Secretary respectively, 



ON THE WAY TO WAR - CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 117 

of the Ladies' Committee. Lady Strathcona, Lady Kirk- 
patrick, Mrs. L. S. Amery, Mrs. Donald Armour Mrs. 
Franklin Jones, Mrs. Haydn Horsey, Mrs. Grant Morden, 
Mrs P Pelletier and Lady Drummond were amongst the 
active members of this Committee. The supply of a steady 
stream of comforts to the soldiers was its central object — 
with toilet articles and food such as hard candy, tinned and 
dried fruits, chewing gum, lime-juice, curry powder, etc., 
tobacco, pipes, cigarettes, games, matches books, maga^ 
zines, pencils, mouth organs, etc., as the chief needs. There 
was a Dominion Branch at Halifax to supervise shipping 
from Canada. The Association also maintained m England 
the Queen's Canadian Military Hospital at Beachborough 
Park, Shorncliffe, and to this institution the women inter, 
ested gave splendid service. 

Miss Mary Plummer and Miss Joan Amoldi, two Toronto 
ladies, had in 1914 been appointed Field Commissioners 
with the 1st Contingent at Valcartier and, early m 1915, 
formed an organization called the Canadian Field Com- 
forts Commission with headquarters at Ashf ord, Kent, and 
an agency at Halifax, N. S. They received official recogni- 
tion at Ottawa and London, held the Hon. rank of Lieu- 
tenants and supervised the distribution of many contorts 
from Canada for Salisbury Plain or at the Front. Lady 
Drummond of Montreal, but resident in London, was 
unceasing in her efforts for the soldiers with her whole 
time devoted to sympathetic attention to their needs. Much 
was done by her for the Eed Cross and from time to time 
she made vigourous appeals for funds to advance such 
objects as the organization of Maple Leaf Clubs for soldiers 
on leave and easily raised the required amounts The 
Information Bureau of the Canadian Eed Cross was formed 
bv Lady Drummond and continued under her active super- 
vision as one of the most valued of helpful institutions for 
the Canadian soldier in London. 



118 CANADA AT WAK 

There was women's work in every direction. At the 
headquarters of the C. A. M. C. there were lady drivers 
headed, in length of service, by Miss Gordon Brown, a niece 
of Colonel Sir A. P. Sherwood of Ottawa ; in France there 
were many Eed Cross Canadian girls and women taking 
men's places as drivers of Motor Ambulances and carrying 
wounded men from the ambulance trains to the hospitals, 
helping also with supplies and work of many kinds; 
throughout France, also, were many Canadian V. A. D. 
nurses and helpers, in every stage of suffering, for the 
wounded and in every form of kindly entertainment, amuse- 
ment and comfort for the soldier on leave or resting in the 
C. E. C. Huts behind the Front. At this point, also, there 
must be mentioned the British women whose work for Can- 
adians Lady Drummond recorded in a December, 1917, let- 
ter to The Times: ^'In closing I would say a word of grate- 
ful, heartfelt thanks, as a Canadian woman, to the women 
of this country for the 'perfect mothering' which they have 
given to our men from Overseas." 

There was another side of the shield, however, in the 
presence in England, during these War years of an army 
of Canadian women — soldiers ' wives or dependents in the 
main, but many, also, who had drifted to England, in one 
of the curious contrasts of wartime, for social reasons, for 
pleasure, for curiosity or similar motives. Of the large 
total, a proportion were unable or unwilling to do war- 
work, to do work of any kind which would be helpful to the 
community, and became additional burdens upon the finan- 
cial and food resources of a greatly-burdened country. 
Every effort to sift them out was made by Canadian author- 
ities, some were brought home and no more were allowed 
to go from Canada; but ships were scarce and difficulties 
many. At the date of the Armistice 22,000 women and cMl- 
dren had been brought back but 50,000 were still there. 

A special soldier problem which developed during 
1916-18 was the alleged immoral condition of the troops in 



ON THE WAY TO WAK — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 119 

England. It was, however, far more of a problem in Canada 
tlian in Camp and was especially debated in women's 
organizations at home by social reform bodies. Much of 
the talk, some of the Eesolutions passed, many of the 
speeches in Canada were very wide of the mark. War psy- 
chology always breeds an infinite brood of rumours, and 
includes depressed views of social and public conditions, 
with an almost morbid willingness to believe the worst. 
This moral issue also furnished a ready field for exaggera- 
tion in the interest of Prohibition advocacy. At the Ontario 
Prohibition Convention of March 8, 1917, statements abso- 
lutely vitriolic in character were made, the British Govern- 
ment was freely condemned, with little visible reason or 
proof, for conditions guessed at, or rumoured, or asserted 
in private correspondence, and more than one woman urged 
that no more men be allowed to go across. The Rev. E. 
Tennyson Smith, a veteran English reformer, protested 
strongly: "To suggest for one moment that the British 
Government connives at the existence of immoral condi- 
tions is absolutely untrue and unfair. Your boys will have 
no greater temptation, or even as great temptation, in Eng- 
land as here, for anything worse than the streets of Mon- 
treal I have never known. It is entirely untrue that the 
British Government permits or even winks at immorality." 
On motion of Mrs. Thornley of the W. C. T. U. a Resolu- 
tion was passed declaring that the Convention ''views with 
extreme regret and genuine concern the use of the wet can- 
teen, the rum ration and the permission (afterwards 
changed to ''existence") of conditions concerning social 
vice with the gravest possible effect." 

As to alleged drinking or encouragement to drink given 
in England, Sir Robert Borden in the Commons on May 
18, 1917, after referring to the kind, hospitable and gener- 
ous treatment of Canadian troops by the British people 
and submitting reports from Generals Turner and Steele 
of Canada and General Child of the War Office, added : "It 



120 CANADA AT WAR 

is enough to say that these reports indicate that all such 
representations are almost absolutely without foundation. 
The Canadian troops are not addicted to the habit of 
drunkenness . . . when troops go to the canteen they 
are necessarily under discipline and supervision. If there 
is no wet canteen, and men go out to the public-houses — 
and you cannot very well prevent them — they are not 
under the same discipline or supervision.*' On July 6 
English papers announced that Mr. Lloyd George had 
received a protest from the Ontario Presbyterian Women's 
Missionary Society, making grave charges against the 
British Government because Prohibition had not been 
adopted there, and alleging that Canadian soldiers in Eng- 
land were being ruined, body and soul, by drink and 
disease ! 

This was characterized freely by Canadian chaplains and 
officers on the spot as a gross and libelous exaggeration; 
it was stated officially that the British convictions for 
drunkenness and other offences in the London area aver- 
aged one-fifth of the pre-war period and that protests from 
workmen and others as to the increasing shortage of beer 
were becoming peremptory. The Eev. Dr. S. D. Chown 
was explicit as to this problem in a statement to the Social 
Service Conference on September 13: ''There is no ques- 
tion that the reports circulated in Canada as to social dis- 
ease and drunkenness among the men Overseas are not well 
founded. The stamina of the men is splendid. Convictions 
and arrests for drunkenness among the Canadian soldiers 
are less than among a similar body of civilians. The Can- 
adian troops Overseas show absolutely no sign of deteriora- 
tion. ' ' At the same time he definitely condemned the exist- 
ence of temptations greater than the men should be called 
upon to meet. 

A word must be said as to the Canadian Khaki Uni- 
versity established in England late in 1918. Educational 
work had long been carried on by British authorities in the 



ON THE WAY TO WAR — CANADIANS IN ENGLAND 121 

British Army but not along the lines finally worked out by 
the Canadian staff, the Y. M, C A., and others, with Presi- 
dent H. M. Tory of the University of Alberta in charge. 
The object was to take advantage of every spare moment 
amongst the troops training in England or on active service 
at the Front to instruct the individual soldier in some line 
of study or occupation which he would like to continue when 
the War was over — by means of (1) an organized course 
of lectures, (2) the promotion of small study groups, (3) 
the arrangement of reading groups in billets or tents and 
(4) the development of a library system. During the year 
formal relations were established with University College, 
London, and in October the institution was placed on an 
official basis as a permanent element in repatriation as well 
as war and with a Director of Education attached to the 
Canadian Overseas Ministry. Between its initiation in 
October, 1917, and the close of the War 12,000 students 
registered and the attendance at lectures totalled over 
20,000. At the Front the institution was organized and 
largely patronized. Interesting incidents in connection 
with the Canadians and war-life in England was the visit 
in 1918 of a large Canadian Press Delegation which was 
lavishly entertained and given every advantage in seeing 
war as it really was in France and Belgium. The Ontario 
Maple Leaf Clubs initiated and controlled by the Hearst 
Government of Ontario — as with the splendid Hospital at 
Orpington, England — was a feature of Canadian work 
which must be mentioned. During the first years of the 
War Colonel (afterwards Maj.-Gen. Sir) J. W. Carson was 
the special representative and Agent of the Canadian Min- 
ister of Militia in England. Under Sir Sam. Hughes he 
had wide powers and they were exercised in respect to 
appointments at the Front in the Canadian Forces as well 
as in the hostile troops in England. This fact, in addition 
to his opinion of the Eoss Eifle, was said to be a cause of 
the retirement of General Alderson; General Byng would 



122 CANADA AT WAK 

have no interference with his appointments and promo- 
tions. It may be added that the chief Canadian Army- 
officers in England during 1918 and at the close of the War 
were as follows : 

Chief of the General Staff — Lieut. -Gen. Sir K. E. W. Turner, v.c, K.C.B., 

K.C.M.G., D.S.O. 

General Staff Officer — Brig.-Gen. H. F. McDonald, c.M.G., D.s.o. 
Adjutant-General — Brig.-Gen. P. E. Thacker, c.b., c.m.g. 
Quartermaster-General — Brig.-Gen. D. M. Hogarth, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Director-General of Medical Services — Maj.-Gen. G. La F. Foster, c.b. 
Director-General of Timber Operations — Brig.-Gen. Alex McDougal, c.b. 
Paymaster-General — Brig.-Gen. D. M, Eoss, c.m.g. 
Headquarters, Borden — Brig.-Gen. C. H. McLaren, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Headquarters, Bramshott — G. O. C. : Brig.-Gen. R. Rennie, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Headquarters, Seaford — G. O. C.: Brig.-Gen. H. M. Dyer, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Headquarters, Witley — G. O. C: Brig.-Gen. F. W. Hill, c.M.G., D.s.o. 



CHAPTER VII 
CANADIANS AT THE FEONT IN 1915 

The Princess Patricia's Light Infantry Regiment was 
the first Canadian organized force to share actively in the 
conflicts of the Western front. CaUed after, aided by, and 
watched over with personal interest by Her Royal High- 
ness, it was a battalion worthy of the best and highest tra- 
ditions of British military history; more could hardly be 
said of it. The original Commander, Col. F. D. Farquhar, 
D.s.o., was a British officer on the Governor-General's Staff 
at Ottawa, who fell early in the fighting ; he was succeeded 
in after months and years by eight other officers ; amongst 
the original officers who left for France with the Battalion 
on December 20, 1914, were Agar Adamson, Talbot Papi- 
neau, J. W. H. McKinnery, M. S. De Bay, W. G. Colquhoun, 
D. 0. C. Newton, H. W. Niven and many more who became 
in most cases marked men, with varied honours and bril- 
liant records; every man of the Regiment was in fact a 
hero in his own person. 

At the Front, it was swiftly turned into a body of sea- 
soned soldiers. The Regiment at first formed part of the 
27th Division, mainly composed of troops from India, and 
under command of General Shaw. It was in the trenches 
by January 6, 1915, and there followed a series of hotly con- 
tested raids and battles, during this early and most trying 
period of the War, in which the Regiment won an ever- 
increasing reputation. St. Eloi and other difficult points 
in the Ypres salient were then the scenes of incessant strug- 
gle and by May 7 the fighting strength of the Battalion 
was reduced to 635 ; on the 8th one of the most desperate 
fights in the second Battle of Ypres left 150 men under 

[123] 



134 CANADA AT WAR 

command of a Lieutenant (H. W. Niven) with only one 
other officer unwounded. It has been described as follows :* 

*'The day that followed was at once the most critical 
and the most costly in the history of the Battalion. Early 
in the morning particularly heavy shelling began to fall. 
At the same time a number of Germans were observed com- 
ing at the double from the hill in front of the trench. This 
movement was arrested by a heavy rifle fire. By 6 a. m. 
every telephone wire, both to the Brigade Headquarters 
and also to the trenches, had been cut. Every single Can- 
adian upon the strength was from that time forward in one 
or other of the trenches. A short and fierce struggle 
decided the issue for the time being. The advance of the 
Germans was checked, and those of the enemy who were 
not either sheltered by buildings, dead or wounded, crawled 
back over the crest of the ridge to their own trenches. By 
this time the enemy had two, and perhaps three, machine- 
guns in an adjacent building, and were sweeping the para- 
pets of both the fire and support trenches. 

"About 7 a. m. Major Gault, who had sustained his men 
by his coolness and example, was severely hit by a shell 
in the left arm and thigh. It was impossible to move him, 
and he lay in the trench, as did many of his wounded com- 
panions, in great anguish but without a murmur for over 
ten hours. The command was taken over by Lieut. H. W. 
Niven, the next senior officer who was still unwounded. 
Heavy howitzers using high explosives, combined with 
field-guns, from this moment, in a most trying bombard- 
ment both on the fire and support trenches. The fire trench 
on the right was blown to pieces at several points. At 9 
o'clock the shelling decreased in intensity; but it was the 
lull before the storm, for the enemy immediately attempted 
a second infantry advance. This attack was received with 
undiminished resolution. A storm of machine-gun and rifle 
fire checked the assailants, who were forced, after a few 

* Description by Lord Beaverbrook, then OflScial Eye- Witness at the Front. 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1915 125 

indecisive moments, to retire and take cover. The Bat- 
talion accounted for large numbers of the enemy in the 
course of this attack, but it suffered seriously itself. 

^'At half -past nine, Lieut. Niven established contact with 
the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on the left, and 
with the 4th Eifle Brigade on the right. Both were suffer- 
ing heavy casualties from enfilade fire; and neither, of 
course, could afford any assistance. At this time the bom- 
bardment recommenced with great intensity. The range of 
our machine-guns was taken with extreme precision. All, 
without exception, were buried. Those who served them 
behaved with the most admirable coolness and gallantry. 
Two guns were dug out, mounted and used again. One 
was actually disinterred three times and kept in action till 
a shell annihilated the whole section. . . . By 12 a. m. 
the supply of small arms ammunition badly needed replen- 
ishment. From 12 a. m. to 1.30 p. m. the Battalion held 
on under the most desperate difficulties until a detachment 
of the 4th Rifle Brigade was sent up in reinforcement. At 
3 p. m. a detachment of the 2nd King's Shropshire Light 
Infantry reached the support line with 20 boxes of small 
arms ammunition. These were distributed, and the party 
bringing them came into line as a reinforcement, occupying 
the left end of the support trench. The afternoon dragged 
on, the tale of casualties constantly growing; and at ten 
o'clock at night, the Company commanders being all dead 
or wounded, Lieutenants Niven and Papineau took a roll- 
call. It disclosed a strength of 150 rifles and some 
stretcher-bearers. At 11.30 at night the Battalion was 
relieved by the 3rd King's Royal Rifle Corps." 

The Battalion was then rested and re-organized and more 
than once afterwards was again almost decimated; the 
original survivors in 1918, after it had seen service in all 
quarters of the British lines and finally been absorbed into 
the Canadian forces, numbered a couple of dozen ; its name 



126 CANADA AT WAR 

ranked by that time amongst the great British Eegiments 
of the War — using the word British in its widest sense. 
It is interesting to note the names and following facts as to 
those who commanded this historic Battalion : 

Honors Date 

and Awards Appointed Vacated 

Lt.-Ool. F. D. Farqiihar d.s.o. 22-9-14 21-3-15 

Lt.-Col. H. C. BuUer 21-3-15 5-5-15 

Major R. T. Felly D.s.o. 15-5-15 7-12-15 

Lt.-Col. H. C. BuUer d.s.o. 7-12-15 6-16 

Major A. A. M. Adamson d.s.o. 17-6-16 3-8-16 

Lt.-Col. R. T. Pelly d.s.o. 31-10-16 27-3-18 

Lt.-Col. A. A. M. Adamson D.s.o. 9-9-17 10-10-17 

Major C. J. T. Stewart d.s.o. 27-3-18 End of War 

A month or so after the appearance of the ''Princess 
Pats" at the front Canada's first army Division appeared 
on the scene. The Prime Minister told Parliament at 
Ottawa on February 16 that he had received a despatch 
from the Colonial Secretary (Mr. Harcourt) stating that 
the whole of the Canadian contingent had crossed safely 
and were in France. When the trenches were reached the 
British forces were found to occupy lines between 20 and 
30 miles in length, which ran from Ypres on the north to 
Givenchy on the south and had been held since — in the first 
Battle of the Aisne — British troops had moved thence to 
Flanders in the hope of outflanking the enemy. It did not 
take very long for the Canadians to get their bearings, 
though many discomforts had to be endured of which the 
worst came from spring rains and flooded trenches alter- 
nating with cold spells, relieved, however, by bits of beau- 
tiful French weather which, naturally, were not enjoyed to 
the full. The troops were fortunate in having as com- 
mander Lieut.-Gen. E. A. H. Alderson, whom they had 
learned at Salisbury to like and to respect; whose orders 
they now learned to follow in battle with faith and courage. 
They never forgot the closing words of an address which 
he gave them before entering the trenches early in March, 



CANADIANS AT THE FEONT IN 1915 13'J' 

After words of warning and advice he added a reference 
to his own former Regiment, of whom it had been said "the 
West Kents never budge", and declared it a good omen: 
''I will now belong to you and you to me; and before long 
the Army will say: 'The Canadians never budge.' " 

The Brigades were under command of (1) Brig.-Gen. 
M. S. Mercer, (2) Brig.-Gen. A. W. Currie, (3) Brig.-Gen. 
R. E. W. Turner, v.c, d.s.o., and (Artillery) Brig.-Gen. H. E. 
Burstall. Though the Canadians took no part in the 
advance to Neuve Chapelle, which won a partial success for 
the British Army and lost the chances of a great victory, 
they were severely tested ; despite the stories in the Can- 
adian press of charges made and glory won in the conflict, 
what they really did was to withstand German pressure, 
face heavy fire from German guns, and silently hold their 
trenches while a great battle was going on all around them. 
It was important work, it was a test of efficiency, but it 
was not St. Julien or Festubert. The Canadian Artillery 
also played its part well. Then came the second battle of 
Ypres — a determined, prolonged effort of the Germans to 
get through the Allied lines to Calais— which lasted from 
April 22 to May 13, when the Festubert struggle com- 
menced. Like the first battle of this name and location 
and object, which lasted from October 20 to November 11, 
1914, it was vital to the success or failure of the German 
plans ; it was fought with German precision, thoroughness 
and courage; it included German superiority in numbers 
and artillery. Unlike the first contest, however, it brought 
into action the new, unexpected and barbarous use of pois- 
onous gasses by the Germans. The Canadians shared 
actively and greatly in the first six days of the far-flung 
struggle, the name of their comer of the battle-field was 
derived from one or other of two areas called, respectively, 
St. Julien and Langemarck; their lines covered, roughly, 
5,000 yards extending from the Ypres-Roulers Railway to 
the Ypres-Poelcappelle road, and were connected at ouq 



128 CANADA AT WAR 

terminus with French troops and at the other with the Brit* 
ish Army ; their force comprised the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Can- 
adian Brigades of which the two latter had only taken over 
their line of trenches from the French on April 17. 

The importance of the point held by the Canadians was 
that it lay directlj^ in front of a possible line of German 
advance on Calais ; had the enemy broken through the Can- 
adian force, as well as the neighbouring French lines, they 
would probably have got to the Coast with all the tremen- 
dous consequences to England, as well as France, which 
that involved. Moreover, it was a flat country and diffi- 
cult to hold. The day of April 22 was warm and sunny 
and only the occasional bombardment of stricken Ypres 
marked the scene until, suddenly, at 5 p. m., the Germans 
launched a carefully-prepared projection of great masses 
of asphyxiating gas in front of the French troops to the 
left of the Canadian Division. The French at this point 
were largely made up of Turcos and Zouaves ; the gas fumes 
were so poisonous in effect, so sudden in their coming, so 
horrible in the suffering caused, so unknown to all war 
experience, that the French naturally, inevitably, surged 
back out of their trenches and the first knowledge that the 
amazed Canadian troops had of their own participation in 
one of the great battles of history was seeing the anguished, 
distorted faces of retreating troops as they gasped for 
breath and vainly sought relief from their sufferings. 

The result of this retreat was that the 3rd Canadian 
Brigade was left dangling in the air at one end, with an 
advancing German army of about 150,000 men, backed by 
immensely heavy artillery, pouring into the space vacated 
by the French, covered by their poisonous gasses, and with 
the road to Ypres apparently open to the onslaught. To 
the right of the 3rd Canadian Brigade was the 2nd and 
some distance behind, in reserve, was the 1st Brigade. The 
3rd Brigade, under General Turner, at once drew its line 
down and back toward St. Julien and Ypres and bore the 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1916 129 

brunt of the ensuing German advance. It would take many 
pages to describe the succeeding conflict and the manipula- 
tion and movements of the Canadian Brigades until event- 
ually, with such British support as could be rushed up, the 
gap was closed. There were charges and counter-charges, 
advances and retreats in the first two vital days, followed 
by other days of bitter, ceaseless fighting; the heroism of 
every individual soldier concerned was notable, at times 
Homeric; the heavy casualties, and deaths of Major E. C. 
Norsworthy, Capt. Herrick McGregor, Capt. Guy Drum- 
mond, Lieut.-Colonels Hart McHarg, R. L. Boyle and A. P. 
Birchall and many other gallant officers and men, were fea- 
tures of the conflict; the final withdrawal of the Division 
for rest and re-organization after a week of fighting such 
as had rarely before fallen even to British troops took 
place on May 3-5. The casualties officially reported on May 
3 were 705 killed, 2,162 wounded and 2,536 missing — the 
latter mostly prisoners. Final figures ran up to 6,000. 
For a more detailed record of this memorable Canadian 
victory the account given by John Buchan in Nelson's His- 
tory of the War (Vol. VI) may be accepted and quoted here 
in part:* 

''Attempts were made to rally the fleeing Turcos, and 
Capt. Guy Drummond of the Royal Highlanders, a gallant 
and popular officer, fell heroically in this task. During the 
pressure of an attack by four Divisions the 3rd Brigade 
bent inwards from a point just south of Poelcapelle till its 
left rested on a wood east of St. Julien, between the Lange- 
marck and Poelcapelle roads. Beyond it there was still a 
gap, and the Germans were working around its flank. The 
whole 1st Canadian Brigade was in reserve, and it was 
impossible to use it at a moment's notice. Two Battalions, 
the 10th and 16th, were in the Brigade reserve of the 2nd 

* By kind permission of Thomas Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, London, New 
York and Toronto. 



130 CANADA AT WAK 

and 3rd, and these were brought forward by midnight and 
flung into the breach. 

''A battery of 4.7 guns lent by the 2nd London Division 
to support the French, was in the wood east of St. Julien. 
The gun teams were miles away. That wood has no name, 
but it deserves to be christened by the name of the troops 
who died in it. For through it the 10th Battalion under 
Colonel R. L. Boyle and the 16th under Colonel R. G. E. 
Leckie, charged at midnight, and won the northern fringe. 
They re-captured the guns, but could not bring them away ; 
but they destroyed part of them before they fell again into 
German hands, when the line was forced back by artillery 
fire. Another counter-attack was attempted to ease the 
strain. Two Battalions of General Mercer 's 1st Brigade — 
the 1st and 4th Ontario — charged the German position in 
the gap. Colonel Birchall of the 4th was killed while lead- 
ing his men, and his death fired the battalion to a splen- 
did effort. They carried the first German shelter trenches 
and held them till relief came two days later. 

"A wilder battle has rarely been witnessed than the 
struggle of that April night. The British reserves at 
Ypres, shelled out of the town, marched to the sound of the 
firing, with the strange sickly odour of the gas blowing 
down upon them. The roads WQre congested with the 
nightly supply trains for our troops in the Salient. All 
along our front the cannonade was severe, while the Can- 
adian left, bent back almost at right angles, was struggling 
to entrench itself under cover of counter-attacks. In some 
cases they found French reserve trenches to occupy, but 
more often they had to dig themselves in where they were 
allowed. The right of the German assault was beyond the 
Yser Canal in several places, and bearing hard on the 
French remnants on the eastern bank. All was confusion, 
for no Staff work was possible. To their eternal honour 
the 3rd Canadian Brigade did not break. Overwhelmed 
with superior numbers of men and guns, and sick to death 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1915 131 

with the poison fumes, they did all that men could do to 
stem the tide. The 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) who 
bore the brunt of the gas recovered themselves after the 
first retreat, and regained their position. The 13th Bat- 
talion (Royal Highlanders) did not give ground at all. 
Major E. C. Norsworthy, though badly wounded, rallied 
his men, till he got his death wound. Very early in the 
small hours of Friday morning (April 23) the first British 
reinforcements arrived in the gap. They came mostly from 
the 28th Division. . . . Five Battalions, under the com- 
mand of Colonel Geddes of the Buffs took up position in 
the gap, and acted along with the 10th and 16th Canadians, 
who had conducted the first counter-attack. This force 
varied from day to day — almost from hour to hour — in 
composition, and for convenience we may refer to it as 
Geddes 's Detachment. 

''On the morning of the 23rd the situation was as fol- 
lows : The 27th Division was in its old position, as was the 
28th, save that the latter was much depleted by the sup- 
ports which it had despatched westward. The Canadian 
2nd Brigade was intact, but the 3rd Brigade was bent back 
so as to cover St. Julien, whence the supporting Canadian 
Battalions and Geddes 's Detachment carried the line to 
the Canal at Boesinghe. North of this the French held on 
to the east bank; but the Germans had crossed at various 
points, and had taken Lizerne and Het Sas, and were threat- 
ening Steenstraate. The British Cavalry — General Alien- 
by 's three divisions and General Rimington's two Indian 
divisions — were being hurried up to support the French 
west of the Canal. That day there was severe artillery 
bombardment all along the front of the 28th Division, the 
Canadians and Geddes 's Detachment, especially from the 
heavy guns on the Passchendaele ridge. But the fighting 
was heaviest against the Canadian 3rd Brigade, which by 
now was in desperate straits. Its losses had been huge and 
the survivors were still weak from the effects of the gas. 



132 CANADA AT WAR ' 

No food could reach them for 24 hours, and then only bread 
and cheese. Holding a salient, it suffered fire from three 
sides, and by the evening was driven to a new line through 
St. Julien. One company of the Buffs, sent by Geddes to 
support it, was altogether destroyed. There were gaps in 
all this Western Front and the Germans succeeded in work- 
ing round the left of the 3rd Brigade and even getting their 
machine guns behind it. By this time the Canadian line 
was held from right to left by the 5th, 8th, 15th, 13th, three 
companies of the 7th, and the 14th Battalions, from which 
Geddes 's Detachment extended to the French. 

"About three o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 
24th, a violent artillery cannonade began. At 3:30 there 
came the second great gas attack, and of this we have full 
details. The gas was pumped from cylinders, and, rising 
in a cloud, which at its maximum was seven feet high, it 
travelled in two minutes, the distance between the lines. 
It was thickest close to the ground and filled every cranny 
of the trenches. Our men had still no knowledge of it, and 
were provided with no prophylactics, but instinct taught 
some of them what to do. A wet handkerchief wrapped 
around the mouth gave a little relief, and it was best for 
a man to keep on his feet. It was fatal to run backwards, 
for in that case he followed the gas zone, and the exertion 
of rapid movement compelled deep breathing, and so drew 
the poison into the lungs. Its effect was to fill the lungs 
with fluid and to produce acute bronchitis. Those smitten 
by it suffered horribly, gasping and struggling for breath, 
with blue, swollen faces, and eyes bursting from the head. 
It affected the sight, too, and produced temporary blind- 
ness. Even a thousand yards from the place of emission 
men were afflicted with violent sickness and giddiness. 

''That day, the 24th, saw the height of the Canadians' 
battle. The much-tried 3rd Brigade, now gassed for the 
second time, could no longer keep its place. Its left fell 
back weir to the southwest of St. Julien, gaps opened up 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1915 133 

in its front, and General Currie's 2nd Brigade was left in 
much the same position as that of the 3rd Brigade on 
Thursday evening. His left was compelled to swing south 
to conform; but Colonel Lipsett's 8th Battalion, which held 
the pivoting point on the Graf enstaf el ridge — the extreme 
north-eastern point of our salient — did not move an inch. 
Although heavily gassed, they stayed in their trenches for 
two days until they were relieved. The 3rd Brigade, tem- 
porarily forced back, presently recovered itself, and 
regained much of the lost ground. About mid-day a great 
German attack developed against the village of St. Julien 
and the section of our line immediately east of it. The 3rd 
Brigade was withdrawn some 700 yards to a new line south 
of the village and just north of the hamlet of Fortuin. The 
remnants of the 13th and 14th Battalions could not be 
withdrawn, and remained — a few hundred men — in the 
St. Julien line, fighting till far on in the night their hope- 
less battle with a gallantry which has shed eternal lustre 
on their Motherland. Scarcely less fine was the stand of 
Colonel Lipsett's 8th Battalion at Graf enstaf el. Though 
their left was in the air they never moved and at the most 
critical moment held the vital point of the British front. 
Had the Grafenstafel position gone, the enemy would in 
an hour have pushed behind the 28th Division and the whole 
eastern section. It is told how one machine-gun officer of 
the 7th — Lieutenant Bellew — with a defiant loaf stuck on 
his bayonet point above the parapet fought his machine gun 
till it was smashed to pieces, and then continued the strug- 
gle with relays of rifles. Far on the west the French 
counter-attacked from the Canal and made some progress, 
but the Germans were still strong on the west bank, and 
took Steenstraate, though the Belgian artillery succeeded 
in destroying the bridge behind them. 

"Meanwhile, British battalions were being rushed up as 
fast as they could be collected. The 13th Brigade from the 
5th Division took up position west of Geddes 's Detachment, 



134 CANADA AT WAR 

between the Canal and the Pikem road, and they were sup- 
ported by the York and Durham Brigades of the North- 
umbrian Territorial Division, which had arrived from Eng- 
land only three days before. The 10th Brigade from the 
4th Division was coming up to support the 3rd Canadian 
Brigade south of St. Julien. To support the critical point 
at Grafenstafel the 8th Battalion of the Durham Brigade 
of the Northumbrian Division, and the 1st Hampshires 
from the 4th Division took their place between the 8th 
Canadians and the left of the 28th Division. The Can- 
adians were gradually being withdrawn; the 3rd Brigade 
had already gone, and the Lahore Division and various bat- 
talions of the 4th were about to take over the whole of this 
part of the lines. But, meantime, an attempt was made 
to retake St. Julien. Early on Sunday morning, about 
4.30, an attack was delivered by General Hull's 10th Bri- 
gade and two battalions of the York and Durham Brigades 
against the village. It was pushed up through the left 
centre of the Canadian remnant to the very edge of the 
houses, where it was checked by the numerous German 
machine guns. In the assault the 10th Brigade had des- 
perate casualties, while the York and Durham battalions, 
which missed direction in the advance, lost 13 officers and 
213 rank and file. On that day, so mixed was the fighting. 
General Hull had under him at one moment no less than 
15 battalions, as well as the whole artillery of the Canadian 
Division. 

''Monday, the 26th, was a day of constant and critical 
fighting, but we managed to get our reliefs in and take out 
the battalions which had been holding the pass since the 
terrible night of Thursday. The 3rd Canadian Brigade 
had retired on Saturday, the 2nd followed on Sunday even- 
ing. But on the Monday the latter, now less than 1,000 
strong, was ordered back to the line, which was still far 
too thin, and, to the credit of their discipline, the men went 
cheerfully. They had to take up position in daylight, and 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1915 135 

cross the zone of shell fire — no light task for those who 
lived through the past shattering days. That night they 
were relieved, and on Thursday the whole Division was 
withdrawn from the Ypres Salient, after such a week of 
fighting as has rarely fallen to the lot of British troops. 
Small wonder that a thrill of pride went through the 
Empire at the tale, and that Canada rejoiced in the midst 
of her sorrow. Most of the officers were Canadian born, 
and never was there finer regimental leading. Three Bat- 
talion commanders died — Colonel Birchall of the 4th, Col- 
onel McHarg of the 7th, and Colonel Boyle of the 10th. 
Many of the Brigade staff officers fell. From the 5th Bat- 
talion only ten officers survived, five from the 7th, seven 
from the 8th, eight from the 10th. Of the machine-gun men 
of the 13th Battalion 13 were left out of 58, in the 7th Bat- 
talion only one. Consider what these men had to face. 
Attacked and outflanked by four Divisions, stupified with a 
poison of which they had never dreamed, and which they 
did not understand, with no heavy artillery to support them, 
they endured till reinforcements came, and they did more 
than endure. After days and nights of tension they had 
the vitality to counter-attack. When called upon they cheer- 
fully returned to the inferno they had left. If the Salient 
of Ypres will be for all time the classic battleground of 
Britain, that blood-stained segment between the Poelcapelle 
and Zonnebeke roads will remain the holy land of Canadian 
arms. ' ' 

The Canadians had made good. Men accustomed to 
civilian life, untrained, undrilled, undisciplined, until a few 
months before ; battalions composed of lawyers, college pro- 
fessors and graduates, business men, labourers and clerks 
who, in thousands of cases, had never seen or handled a gun 
until this call came ; had been plunged into the most scien- 
tific, bloody and devastating of the world's struggles and 
had met the most barbarous and best-organized and best- 
armed of all enemies with the courage of British veterans 



136 CANADA AT WAR 

and a resourcefulness born of their Canadian soil — 
whether native or adopted. They had proved themselves 
worthy to stand beside the British and French soldiers 
who for eight long months had been holding immense 
armies at bay and fighting with unsurpassed coolness and 
courage. Ypres had been saved, the German drive stopped, 
the 2nd battle for Calais practically won by the defence 
forces. How far were the Canadians responsible for this 
result? The British press, British Generals and leaders 
declared with generous appreciation that they had ''saved 
the situation" and it seems clear that they did so in much 
the same way that Belgium had saved a greater situation — 
by standing in the breach and holding on until re-organiza- 
tion and more troops could retrieve a momentary disaster. 
A stream of messages, congratulations, appreciation, 
poured in to Ottawa or were expressed in other public 
forms and a few must be quoted here: 

His Majesty the King to H. R. H. the Govebnoe-Genekal 
I congratulate you most warmly on the splendid and gallant way in which 
the Canadian Division fought during the last two days north of Ypres. Sir 
John French says their conduct was magnificent throughout. The Dominion 
will be justly proud. — George R. & I. 

F. M. SiE John French to General Axderson 
I wish to express to you and to the Canadian troops my admiration for the 
gallant stand and fight they have made. They performed a most brilliant and 
valuable service last night, and again this morning. 

General Sir H. Smith-Dorrien to General Alderson 

I should like you to communicate to the whole Canadian Division my thanks 
and admiration as Army Commander for the services they rendered to the 
2nd Army during the critical period following the successful German attack 
on our Allies on the night of the 22nd of April. 

General Alderson to His Men on May 4th 

I would, first of all, tell you that I have never been so proud of anything 
in my life as I am of this armlet with " 1st Canada " on it that I wear on 
my right arm. I think it is possible that you do not, all of you, quite realize 
that if we had retired on the evening of April 22 — when the Allies fell back 
before the gas and left our left flank quite open — the whole of the 27th and 
28th Divisions would probably have been cut off. This is what our Comman- 
der-in-Chief meant when he telegraphed that " the Canadians saved the situa- 
tion." My lads, if ever men had a right to be proud in this world you have. 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1915 137 

The succeeding Battle of Festubert, or Aubers, was part 
of an Allied effort, following the struggle for Neuve 
Cliapelle, to gain the Aubers Eidge which dominated Lille 
and La Bassee and constituted one of the vital points on 
the Western front. The effort as a whole was a costly 
failure because of the lack of artillery and high explosives 
sufficient to smash an infinite variety of fortified trenches, 
hummocks, ravines, chalk-pits, quarries, concrete-lined gal- 
leries, underground tunnels, and miniature fortresses of 
every kind, — backed by immense numbers of machine guns. 
The struggle began on May 9 and continued with varying 
intensity until the 19th when the Canadian 1st Division 
and the 51st Highland Division were ordered into action. 
Since St. Julien the Canadians had been resting in billets 
until, on the 14th, they had been moved forward ready for 
new operations and strengthened by reinforcements from 
reserve troops in England. 

The Canadian part of the fighting included efforts of 
Companies under Colonels F. S. Meighen and R. G. E. 
Leckie to take a certain Orchard near Festubert; several 
unsuccessful efforts of the 2nd Brigade or, rather, parts 
of it, to take the Bexhill redoubt; the repulse of a strong 
German attack by the 7th Prussian Army Corps ; the final 
capture of Bexhill by the 5th Battalion with varied inci- 
dents of heroic fighting and ceaseless effort during a period 
of two weeks. The casualties were severe, including a total 
for St. Julien and Festubert of 7,327. Between the close 
of this conflict and the beginning of the advance on Loos — 
May 26 to September 25 — there were a series of small 
battles, or what seemed small in this tremendous War. Of 
these, so far as Canadians were concerned, Givenchy was 
the chief, and it was a desperate affair in which glory and 
trenches were won; but the latter eventually abandoned. 
It was part of a chain of operations along the whole front 
and, though looming large in Canadian eyes and annals, 
it would not fill a great place in the history of the cam- 
10 



138 CANADA AT WAR 

paign. By June 30, however, the casualties for the whole 
Division totalled about 50 per cent, with some battalions 
represented by almost their entire strength, — the 7th Brit- 
ish Columbia and 16th Western Battalions, for instance, 
with losses of 913 each, the 15th Ontario Highlanders, 888 
and the 16th Manitoba Highlanders 754, with others in pro- 
portion grading down to those which had not been in seri- 
ous engagements. 



CHAPTEE VIII 

CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1916 

At the beginning of this year the Canadian troops con- 
sisted of three Divisions and nine Brigades — the former 
under Generals Currie, Turner and Mercer, the latter under 
command, respectively, of Brigadiers-General Garnet B. 
Hughes, D.S.O., L. J. Lipsett, c.m.g., E. G..E. Leckie, c.m.g., 
Robert Eennie, d.s.o., m.v.o., David Watson, c.b., H. D. B. 
Ketchen, A. C. Macdonell, c.m.g., d.s.o., V. A. S. Williams, 
F. W. Hill, C.B. In March, General Leckie of the 3rd Bri- 
gade was wounded and replaced by Brig.-Gen. F. 0, W. 
Loomis, D.s.o., and General Macdonell of the 7th Brigade, 
also wounded, was succeeded by Brig.-Gen. G. S. Tuxford, 
C.M.G. In June it was announced that General Lipsett 
would succeed the late General Mercer as Commander of 
the 3rd Division and that Brig.-Gen. W. St. Pierre Hughes 
would replace him in command of the 2nd Brigade. Brig.- 
Gen. J. H. Elmsley, d.s.o., replaced General Williams (a 
prisoner in Germany) in his Brigade command. General 
Turner was appointed in November to command the Can- 
adian troops in England and was succeeded in the 2nd 
Division at the Front by Brig.-Gen. H. E. Burstall, c.b. 
Finally, a 4th Division, held in training and reserve in 
England, after being depleted for a time by drafts for 
France during the Somme fighting, was sent to the Front 
in August under command of Maj.-Gen. David Watson, c.b. 
Of the Artillery during this year, Brig.-Gen. J. H. Mitchell, 
Col. J. J. Creelman, Brig.-Gen. E. W. B. Morrison, d.s.o., 
and Brig.-Gen. J. H. Elmsley were in command of brigades 
at one time or another with Brig.-Gen. J. E. B. Seely, c.b., 
D.s.o., lately British Secretary of War, in command of the 



ri39] 



140 CANADA AT WAR 

Cavalry and Brig.-Gen. C. J. Armstrong, c.m.g., as Chief 
Engineer of the Canadian Corps in France. 

Meanwhile, and up to May, 1916, Lient.-Gen. Sir E. A. H. 
Alderson, k.c.b., had been in command of all the Canadian 
Forces in France. He was very popular with the men and 
under him the Canadians did much hard work, became 
splendid soldiers and distinguished themselves in the field. 
Differences with the Minister of Militia at Ottawa, how- 
ever, made his retirement unavoidable and he was replaced 
by Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Sir Julian H. G. Byng, k.c.m.g., c.b., 
M.V.O., who had won reputation in South Africa as an alert, 
devoted and, of course, gallant soldier. Under General 
Alderson the Canadian 1st Division had saved Calais and 
the Coast at the 2nd Battle of Ypres — St. Julien and 
Langemarck — as British troops had done at the first battle 
of that name; under him the same Division had fought 
at Givenchy and Festubert beside the Guards and the 
famous "fighting Seventh" of the British Army; under 
him early in 1916 they still were fighting at St. Eloi in the 
war-blasted Ypres region. Under Sir Julian Byng the first 
three Divisions and Princess Patricias fought at the 3rd 
Battle of Ypres, while all four Canadian Divisions were 
under him at the struggle on the Somme. During this year 
the already established reputation of Canadian troops was 
enhanced ; they were found equal to the best of their British 
comrades and no higher praise could be given. Where all 
were brave, all cheerful and patient, all earnest in the desire 
to get at the enemy, effective comparisons are difficult, but, 
Canadians naturally took, and always will take, special 
interest in the Canadian portion of the great battles which 
often ran for scores of miles along the Front and involved, 
perhaps, millions of men. 

During January of 1916 the Princess Patricias were 
transferred from the 80th British Brigade to the Canadian 
Army Corps and Gen. W. E. B. Smith, in a farewell Order, 
declared that ''the gallantry of the P. P. C. L. I. during the 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1916 141 

fighting of St. Eloi and later during the 2nd Battle of 
Ypres, when the Battalion hung on to their trenches with 
unparalleled tenacity, and lost 75 per cent, of their effec- 
tives, has won for them, not only the admiration of their 
comrades but a reputation which will stand amongst the 
highest in the record of the exploits of the British Army." 
It was pointed out at the time that this Eegiment and those 
of the 1st Canadian Division were the first volunteer sol- 
diers that Britain had allowed to go to the Front. On 
April 3rd there began the most important conflict shared in 
by Canadians since St. Julien. The 2nd Division occupied 
on that date the ground at St. Eloi, won in recent actions by 
the 3rd British Division and held as a sharp salient thrust 
into the German position; it comprised trenches running 
alongside of great mine-craters. These crowned a slight 
rising and had been created by a German explosion and 
from them the enemy's trenches might have been domin- 
ated. During the week of March 28 many German efforts 
and an intense artillery concentration had been made to 
dislodge the British, and then the Canadian troops to whom 
the trenches were turned over ; but they had been resisted 
and the lines connected up on the right by the Canadians 
with a new British line. There were many Canadian bomb- 
ing attacks, all gallant efforts, and the troops by April 3 
had barely got settled in their new positions, with most of 
the crater-ground behind them, and a *'No Man's Land", 
of desolate and shattered history in the immediate front, 
when a new struggle began. 

Upon them and the craters poured a heavy concentrated 
artillery fire for three days, which increased steadily in 
intensity, with the 27th (Winnipeg) Battalion as the chief 
sufferers; on the 6th the Germans followed it up and suc- 
ceeded in getting through and occupying two of the craters. 
Fighting continued for days, at close range, for the Ger- 
man capture of the other craters and, by the Canadians, 
for the capture of the two which thie enemy had occupied. 



142 CANADA AT WAR 

At first the Canadians had to retire — the trouble being 
largely due to a mistake as to the location and occupation 
of certain craters which for days held the Canadian artill- 
ery back from action and which had changed owing to new 
mines altering the map of the Mound. For the same reason 
the first counter-attacks failed. This part of the battle had 
been conducted by the 6th Brigade under General Ketchen, 
with casualties of 617 officers and men; in the latter part 
of it the 4th Brigade under General Rennie, after relieving 
the other on April 7 and making several fierce attempts to 
recapture the craters, gave way on the 11th to the 5th Bri- 
gade under General Watson and with casualties of 403. 
Then the facts were discovered as to the craters, the 
Artillery got in its work, and on the 17th the Germans 
were driven out and the battle-scarred region reoccupied. 
On May 1 the total casualties reported to Ottawa in this 
fighting were 2,759 officers and men. During the next 
month or so there was much work in these positions, the 
digging of new trenches, erecting entanglements, carrying 
food and ammunition through dangerous and difficult zones 
of fire, effecting relief, bombing, scouting, and holding on, 
amid conditions described by the ''Eye-Witness" on May 
16: ''Day after day, night after night, on the Canadian 
front guns thunder and boom. There is little rest or secu- 
rity even in the rearward areas. Often the labour of 
weeks is undone in a single moment, fortifications crumble, 
parapets collapse, buildings fall and dug-outs cave in under 
the ruthless violence of explosive shells. Bursting shrap- 
nel rains a vicious stream of bullets on trench, path and 
field. Fixed rifle batteries and machine guns sweep roads 
and approaches at uncertain intervals, and from points of 
vantage keen-eyed snipers watch patiently for the unwary." 
Deeds of individual gallantry were many. 

Then, on June 2, the area of active fighting was trans- 
ferred to the positions held by the 1st and 3rd Divisions, 
not far from Ypres and the battle-ground of St. Julien, 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1916 li3 

at points centering (1) around Sanctuary Wood, (2) around 
the ruined village of Hooge. The storm broke in Sanctuary 
Wood on the above date with a sudden and intense German 
bombardment which, in its earlier results killed Maj.-Gen. 
M. S. Mercer, who, with General Williams, was on an inspec- 
tion tour of the trenches — the latter being made prisoner 
under conditions not then known. The shelling was one 
of the most intense yet met with on the British front and 
strong trenches over a wide area were swiftly swept out 
of existence. Succeeding months saw many similar events 
with, in the end, artillery supremacy on the British and 
French side; but at this time the Germans were still on 
top. It was compared to a tropical tornado which presses 
men flat to the ground and suffocates them, which uproots 
forests and hurls them headlong, which obliterates ancient 
landmarks, homes and shelters and leaves nothing but 
wreckage and desolation. Following it came the German 
advance and in this inferno the 4th C. M. E., under Colonel 
J. F. H. Ussher, suffered the brunt of the onslaught of 
guns and men with 637 casualties; the 1st Canadian 
Mounted Eifles, under Col. A. E. Shaw, who fell while lead- 
ing his men, then bore the strain of the attack with casu- 
alties of 367. Meanwhile, two Companies of the Princess 
Patricias faced the wave and Col. H. C. Buller, the gallant 
leader of the Eegiment, was killed, and Major Hamilton 
Gault and Capt. H. W. Niven wounded. Then supports 
came up under General A. C. Macdonell and a vital position 
in front of Ypres was saved for the moment though some 
ground was lost on the east with two guns which Lieut. 
C. P. Cotton and his men died in defending. 

The story of this battle and the death of General Mercer 
was little known at the time. Particulars of the personal 
tragedy were unobtainable, and even Lord Beaverbrook, 
in his official volume ''Canada in Flanders," had to express 
ignorance of the details. As to the Canadian Mounted 
Eifles in this and later conflicts whole books of stirring 



144 CANADA AT WAR 

stories could be written — their onslaught at Bellevue 
Spur, for instance, their speed-effort at Amiens or their 
gallant carriage at the Scarpe Eiver. Hence the interest 
of a narrative told by Capt. Lyman Gooderham of Toronto, 
Aide-de-Camp to General Mercer at the Battle of Zillebeke, 
and published in these pages by permission.* From his 
statement it appears that on the night of May 31-June 1 
the 4th C. M. E. took over from the 58th Battalion, in the 
Yyres salient, certain trenches just south of Hooge and in 
an isolated corner of a small salient known as Mount Sor- 
rel. On the 1st it was reported to Brigade Headquarters 
that the enemy had dug saps out into "No Man's Land," 
and during the night Lt.-Col. J. F. H. Ussher, command- 
ing the Battalion, proceeded along a new sap dug by his 
troops and inspected some old ruined buildings that stood 
in that region, and, though it was the very eve of the Ger- 
man attack, he heard no sounds that would indicate enemy 
activity. 

On the evening of June 1 Maj.-Gen. M. S. Mercer, c.b., 
commanding the Third Division, decided to go up and have 
a look at the enemy saps which had been reported, and at 
the same time to inspect the First and Fourth C. M. R., 
who were in this front line. On the 2nd he left Divisional 
Headquarters with Captain Gooderham as A. D. C. and 
called for Brig.-Gen. V. A. S. Williams to accompany him 
on the inspection. The General's party then consisted of 
himself. General Williams, Captain Gooderham and Cap- 
tain Hugh Fraser, A. D. C. to General Williams. As they 
approached the forward area, coming up about 8 :30 a. m., 
the enemy placed a sudden and heavy local bombardment 
on these trenches. Safely passing through this bombard- 
ment, however, the General's party reached Colonel 
Ussher 's Battalion headquarters, which was in a dug-out in 
the immediate support trench, about twenty-five yards back 
of the front line, or "fire" trench. 

* Also published in part in the Toronto Star of March 22, 1919. 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1916 145 

This fact is rather striking because in later trench war- 
fare a battalion headquarters dug-out was invariably from 
500 to 1,000 yards behind the front line. But so closely 
packed was the maze of trenches in this salient that head- 
quarters were pushed into what ordinarily would have been 
termed the front line. The trench mortar bombardment 
having died down, the General's party, led by Colonel 
Ussher, proceeded out to inspect the Fourth C. M. E.. 
trenches. Now, this particular frontage had two features 
which made it peculiarly susceptible to German attack. The 
first were the saps driven into "No Man's Land," both 
British and German, down some of which the latter came, 
as a matter of fact, a few hours afterwards. The other 
and most vital point was a gap of some fifty yards between 
the Battalion's right flank and the Fifth Battalion of the 
First Division. But the C. M. R. felt fairly secure, having 
on both sides of them old and experienced troops. The 
line-up from Hooge southw^ard was as follows: Royal 
Canadian Regiment, Princess Pats, First C. M. R., Fourth 
C. M. R., Fifth Battalion, and so on down the old First 
Division to the Canal. 

So the General's party made their tour of the Fourth 
C. M. R. trenches, going to the right along the support 
trench and to the left along the front line. Half way 
between the front and support trenches and only a few yards 
from either was a narrow eight-foot-deep shelter trench 
known as the ' ' tube. ' ' Out of this ' ' tube ' ' ran a hole in the 
earth, down six feet deep, to a tunnel about sixty feet long, 
where a party of No. 2 Tunnelling Company was working. 
The inspection of the C. M. R. trenches being completed to 
the satisfaction of General Mercer, the two Generals, their 
aides and Colonel Ussher were standing in the front line 
near the communication trench, called "0 'Grady Avenue," 
shortly after 9 o'clock in the morning, when there burst, 
with awful violence and unexpectedness, a bombardment 



lie CANADA AT WAR 

and barrage such as perhaps had never before been seen 
on the Western front. 

General Mercer ordered Colonel Ussher to go to his head- 
quarters, only a few yards away, and order in the General 's 
name all the artillery of his command to retaliate. Colonel 
Ussher reached his headquarters less than two minutes 
after the bombardment opened, but by that time all tele- 
phone wires from headquarters had been destroyed, and he 
promptly sent out two pairs of runners with the messages. 
In the meantime a shell struck the edge of the trench right 
where the two Generals and their aides were standing. 
Brig.-Gen. Williams fell seriously wounded, and General 
Mercer and Captain Gooderham were thrown down and 
badly shell-shocked. General Williams was taken to the 
nearest shelter, which was the "tube" trench around the 
corner. Colonel Ussher then met General Mercer and Cap- 
tain Gooderham and conducted them to his headquarters, 
such as it was, and made them as comfortable as possible. 
At General Mercer's suggestion. Colonel Ussher then went 
forward again to see how General Williams was getting 
on and to look into the general situation. Leaving Major 
W. W. Denison, his second-in-command, and Capt. J. H. 
Symons, his adjutant (afterwards killed), with General 
Mercer, he proceeded to the ' ' tube ' ' trench, where he found 
that Capt. F. S. Park, the medical officer, whose dressing 
station had been blown to bits at the opening of the bom- 
bardment, had turned the little unfinished tunnel that led 
out of the "tube" trench into a temporary aid post and 
shelter for the wounded. 

This tunnel was about 60 feet long by 21^^ feet wide by 5 
feet high. It was full of tools, lumber and undumped earth. 
It had two exits — the one in the "tube" trench, a mere 
circular hole in the ground, unsupported by beams, and the 
other in the communication trench, a boarded shaft with a 
ladder up it. In this tunnel Colonel Ussher found General 
Williams badly wounded and unconscious. In the tunnel 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1916 147 

also were about eight or nine wounded men and a party 
of about thirty men of the Tunnelling Company. A few 
moments later, with a tremendous concussion, the ''tube" 
end of the trench was crushed in. Colonel Ussher then 
passed the word along the tunnel for the men to move out 
by the 'Grady Avenue exit, as the place had become a 
death-trap. A few men succeeded in getting out, when, 
suddenly, the word was passed back: "This end has 
crumpled in, too!" Captain Park inunediately organized 
a party to dig out the exit, but when the workers, later on, 
succeded in clearing a way out, the Germans were far past 
the place and the Canadians emerged only to be promptly 
captured and taken to the enemy headquarters. Meantime 
the terrible German bombardment had kept on with unfail- 
ing intensity, hour after hour. Ordinarily such an intense 
barrage preceded an attack by only a few minutes and, 
while it lasted, the troops sought whatever shelter was 
available until the sentries gave the signal to meet the 
oncoming enemy. 

But, on this occasion, from 9 o 'clock in the morning, hour 
after hour, that terrific bombardment continued and was 
concentrated on the little corner held by the C. M. E. 
brigade. The First Division battalions on the right of the 
Princess Pats and Royal Canadians on the left, got their 
share, but with nothing like the intensity of the Mount 
Sorrel shelling. The Fourth C. M. R. trenches were blown 
in one by one. The dead and wounded lay everywhere. 
The living, driven from their trenches to shelter in shell- 
holes, waited for the lifting of the bombardment and the 
onrush of the Germans. But the enemy did not come. 
Hour after hour the tornado kept up and the last remain- 
ing shelters were crumpled to pieces. It looked as if no 
attack were coming, while down under the earth a party 
was toiling to free Colonel Ussher and the wounded Gen- 
eral. Back in Battalion headquarters, itself badly battered, 
despite a position in the back slope of Mount Sorrel, Major- 



148 CANADA AT WAR 

General Mercer, seeing the position torn to pieces and the 
bombardment commencing to slacken, decided to make an 
effort to reach his own headquarters and prepare to meet 
the coming attack. With Captain Gooderham supporting 
him, he started out just before one o'clock across the open 
space for the rear, there being no communication trenches 
left. 

Just as they approached Armagh Wood, the General was 
shot through the leg and the bone broken ; Captain Gooder- 
ham dragged him into a shell-hole, and at this juncture the 
bombardment lifted over Armagh Wood and the Germans 
swarmed to the attack. It was a losing fight for the Cana- 
dians. The few unwounded Fourth C. M. E. men fought as 
best they could from their scattered shell-holes, until they 
discovered that the enemy had crowded through the 50-yard 
gap on their right flank and had taken them in the rear. 
They made a desperate effort to escape, and a few did so ; 
the remainder were killed or taken prisoner. Meantime 
General Mercer and Capt Gooderham, hidden in their shell- 
hole, watched the Germans passing on the way to Armagh 
Wood and up to Observatory Eidge. There was little sign 
of khaki, except the dead and the wounded everywhere. 
Toward evening the Canadians counter-attacked and made 
four attempts during the night of the 2nd and 3rd. Unfor- 
tunately General Mercer was lying at a point swept 
unknowingly by the British barrage, and about 1 a. m. was 
instantly killed with a piece of shrapnel through his heart. 
Captain Gooderham was found by the Germans on the 
morning of the 4th of June, slightly wounded and badly 
knocked about. It was one of many miraculous escapes 
recorded in these years — so many were they, in fact, that 
they ceased to attract attention amongst the soldiers, 
though unceasingly wonderful to civilians at home. 

The attack continued, however, on the left at Hooge, on 
high ground which threatened the heart of the Canadian 
position and on what was called the Apex line to Maple 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1916 149 

Copse, in the direction of Zillebeke, upon which 2,000 Ger- 
mans were advancing with only three Companies of the 5th 
C. M. E. under Col. G. H. Baker — who was killed in the 
struggle — opposed to them and what was left of the Prin- 
cess Patricias' Companies and of the 1st and 4th C. M. R. 
The situation was greatly helped by General Macdonell 
scraping together reinforcements, by a certain hesitation 
of the enemy in taking advantage of his opportunity, and 
by the gallant stand of the 5th C. M. R., who held good 
their main position though shelled to pieces for hours at 
a stretch and hunted from cover to cover. Meanwhile Col- 
onel F. W. Hill had held the positions at Hooge with cool- 
ness and courage. Upon the whole, however, the first line 
was pushed back on a front of a mile and a half. As to this 
struggle the London Times correspondent described the 
awful nature of the German artillery preparation over 
Maple Copse, Observatory Ridge and Armagh Wood: 
* ' Each one of these names will be written large in history. 
The lines in front of these points were held then by a bat- 
talion of the Canadian Mounted Rifles, and other battalions 
came up later to assist them, through the barrage, and few 
things finer, it is said, were ever seen in war than the way 
in which they came." 

Finally, at midnight, reinforcements arrived and a 
counter-attack began in the early morning of June 3. 
According to Mr. John Buchan:* "They pressed on most 
gallantly, and won back much of the lost ground. But 
they could not stay in it, owing to the intensity of the Ger- 
man artillery fire, and they were compelled to fall back 
from most of that shell-swept area which became a kind 
of extended No Man's Land. For two days the battle was 
stationary, and then at midday on 6th June the German 
guns opened again, concentrating on the front south and 
north of the shattered village of Hooge. North of that 
place they exploded a series of mines between three and 

* Nelson's History of the War, Vol. XIV. 



150 CANADA AT WAK 

four in the afternoon, and j^resently their infantry had 
penetrated our first-line trenches. . . . For a week the 
battle continued but slowly declined to an intermittent 
bombardment, for infantry raids were impossible owing to 
the downpour of rain. Then at 1.30 on the morning of 
June 13 a fresh Canadian Division — the. 1st, under Major- 
General A. W. Currie — attacked on a front of 500 yards, 
extending from the south end of Sanctuary Wood to a 
point 1,000 yards north of Hill 60. They found that the 
enemy had not gone far in consolidating his gains, and 
they found, too, that our previous bombardments had done 
great execution. They occupied all his advanced line, and 
regained their original front trenches in the most important 
part of the section, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy, 
and taking 123 prisoners." 

Part of the trouble, a condition which enhanced difficul- 
ties in all these earlier military movements, was the inade- 
quate supply of light railways and the delays caused by 
blocked-up roads. Amongst the battalions suffering greatly 
were the 14th of Montreal, which had casualties of 387, the 
49th of Edmonton, the 42nd of Montreal. The 3rd Division 
proved themselves, in this their first fight, wliile various 
battalions of the 1st Division showed themselves as vet- 
erans of the War. In the successful attack General H. E. 
Burstall had commanded a tremendous and carefully pre- 
pared assemblage of big guns and the Germans had received 
a dose of their own medicine. Generals Lipsett and Tux- 
ford were in command of this assault with Maj. -General 
Currie as Divisional Commander and General Byng in con- 
trol of the whole. Press correspondents described this 
battle or series of battles which were variously called the 
3rd of Ypres, Sanctuary Wood, Hooge and Zillebeke, as 
the fiercest British action since Loos, and tributes to Can- 
adians, and especially the Princess Patricias, were many 
— Philip Gibbs referring (June 8) to the latter Regiment's 
"superb and self-sacrificing courage." 



CANADIANS AT THE FEONT IN 1916 151 

Following this series of struggles the Canadians were 
given a brief rest and then moved to the Somme district 
where in September they again distinguished themselves. 
During the Battle of the Ancre, and the prolonged struggle 
which swept along the Somme, different British divisions 
had special work to do, and on September 15-16, when Mar- 
tinpuich, Belmont, Hamel, Flers and other village- 
fortresses were being stormed, the Canadians — who had 
recently relieved the Australians under conditions of 
extreme difficulty from shell-fire — were given the region 
in front of Courcelette to capture. It was their first real 
offensive and nothing could stop them. Their action was 
part of an attack on a quadrilateral chain of fortresses 
in which British Guards, London Territorials and New Zea- 
landers also shared. The 4th, 5th and 6th Canadian Bri- 
gades took part. Just before the advance a certain line 
of trench upon which that advance hinged had to be 
straightened out and the 2nd Battalion (Colonel A. E. 
Swift) of the 1st Division was given the task which it suc- 
cessfully performed. The ensuing advance was in skirmish- 
ing order and in six waves of attack. The artillery barrage 
moved before the men, pounding the ground with shot and 
shell. The moment they topped a certain ridge the Can- 
adians came into full view of the enemy who opened upon 
them with rifle and macliine-gun fire, and placed a barrage 
of shell-fire in front of them. The Canadians moved for- 
ward steadily, passed through the Gennan barrage, cap- 
tured Mouquet Farm after desperate resistance, and then 
swarmed into the fortified ruins of a sugar refinery. These 
ruins, strongly garrisoned, were a veritable nest of 
machine-gun emplacements and it was here that the units 
on the right of the attack did their heaviest fighting of the 
day; but they took the position, garrisoned it, then moved 
forward and dug themselves in. In the meantime battalions 
on the left had kept pace with this advance. They crossed 
a German trench and encountered several fortified sunken 



153 CANADA AT WAR 

roads which had to be cleared of the enemy with grenades 
and bayonets ; then they continued through the hostile bar- 
rage, came abreast of the sugar refinery, passed it and 
dug themselves in. 

The Canadians thus had reached and taken their formid- 
able objectives and secured themselves in their new posi- 
tions. It was a splendid piece of work, planned and carried 
out with mathematical precision, and in detail showed hun- 
dreds of incidents of individual heroism. Following this 
the Artillery got to work again and the quick advance upon 
Courcelette village was made — a French Canadian bat- 
talion leading in the final assault and Montreal, Toronto, 
Vancouver, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick battalions and 
the Princess Patricias sharing in the preliminary work, or 
in the final assault of Canadians. Of this the London 
Times' correspondent wrote on September 16: ** There 
were many very formidable Grerman positions in front of 
Courcelette, especially two trenches, which the enemy had 
fortified in every possible way. Twice the waves of men 
went forward and failed to reach the trenches. The third 
wave swept into and over both trenches and into the out- 
skirts of Courcelette. It was not supposed that the place 
could be taken at this stage of the fighting but our men, 
having won all that they were set to win, clamoured to be 
allowed to go on. It was after six in the evening before 
the troops on right and left of this attack had both com- 
pleted their work and firmly held the ground up to the vil- 
age itself. Then they went on ; and by 8.10 o 'clock at night 
they had worked clear through the ruins and had carried 
two especially strong positions on the farther side — the 
cemetery on the north-east and a quarry on the north of 
the village. '* The prisoners taken were over 1,200, includ- 
ing 32 officers, with two guns and a large number of machine 
guns; the Canadian casualties were estimated at 4,000. 

Much desultory fighting followed this success. In his 
report for the week of September 20-27 the Canadian Eye- 
witness stated that "as a result of further severe fighting 



TM' 



Wtrr: 






n 




C^ 





One of the Five qniJ. /T*^'^ •^^nadian "■■■■"iil 
^^^e apires of Cambrai Records.) 



CANADIANS AT THE FEONT IN 1916 153 

the Canadians have captured several important German 
positions and have advanced their own line upon a front- 
age of nearly two miles to a maximmn depth of 900 yards. 
The total number of prisoners in their hands since the 
beginning of the great offensive now amounts to 38 officers 
and 1,610 of other ranks. They have also captured about 
25 machine guns, 11 trench mortars and a great quantity 
of ammunition of all sorts and other war materials. ' ' They 
were greatly assisted in important trench captures on Sep- 
tember 22 and other dates by powerful Artillery prepara- 
tions. On the 26th the strong Zollern Graben redoubt was 
captured. Following this, they went on toward the crest 
of the high ground north of Courcelette and captured the 
Hessian and Kenora trenches. Attacks and counter-attacks 
ensued around these positions and, during the month of 
October, Canadian cavalry patrols were also active, while 
upon three occasions the powerful Regina trench was partly 
taken and then lost again. On October 21 the Canadians 
succeeded in capturing the greater part of the trench from 
the Prussian Guards during a general advance of the Brit- 
ish forces. The remaining portions were finally taken in 
a brilliant assault on November 11. A week later the cap- 
ture of Desire trench by an Ottawa Battalion saw 14 out 
of 15 officers killed or wounded but the objective was 
gained, over 400 prisoners, including 17 officers, captured, 
with a number of machine guns. The 4th Division under 
General Watson took part in many of these operations. 
With the close of the Somme offensive the troops reverted 
to ordinary trench warfare. Seventh Brigade Orders were 
issued by Brig.-Gen. A. H. Macdonell at the close of the 
year which paid special tribute to the conduct of the Prin- 
cess Patricias, the Royal Canadian Regiment and the 42nd 
and 49th Battalions in the actions of September and Octo- 
ber. In these months of fighting Canadian casualties, as 
recorded, showed 11,797 in June, in July 3,684, in August 
3,079, in September 9,051, in October 14,321, in November 
3,595 and in December 2,230. 
11 



CHAPTER IX 
CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1917 

The year 1917 saw 125,000 Canadians in France, giving, 
when up to establishment, 90,000 fighting troops. This 
Army Corps was commanded by Lient.-Gen. Sir Julian 
Byng before and after Vimy, and then by Lieut.-Gen. Sir 
Arthur Currie ; its Divisional Commanders of the year were 
Majors-General A. C. Macdonell — after General Currie 's 
promotion — H. E. Burstall, L. J. Lipsett, and David Wat- 
son; its Cavalry Brigade was led by Brig.-Gen. J. E. B. 
Seeley, d.s.o. In the Force* there were 54 battalions of 
Infantry, or about 55,000 men, more than 10,000 Artillery, 
from 3,000 to 4,000 Engineers, 3,000 Medical troops, about 
2,000 Army Service Corps, with others making about 20,000 
troops of arms other than the Infantry. The Cavalry 
brigade had an establishment of 3,000. The Corps troops 
amounted to 11,000, the bulk of them being Artillery, 5,000 
or 6,000 strong, including Siege artillery. Aircraft artillery, 
French motors, with Corps ' field-troops for maintaining the 
supply of ammunition, etc. In these troops there were also 
over 2,000 engineers, tunnellers, telegraphers, telephonists, 
etc., with 3,000 machine-gunmen and cyclists. With these 
men in the Divisions, the Cavalry brigade and Corps troops, 
were 28,000 attached to Railway, Forestry and Labour 
Services, and 36,000 more on the lines of communication. 
Such figures, of course, indicated the establishment and 
necessarily differed at various stages of fighting, rest, 
recuperation and reserve. 

At the beginning of the year, Maj.-Gen. A. W. Currie, 
c.B.^ who had been in command of the First Division since 
1915, was steadily making his mark as a rising officer of 

* OflScial statement issued by Department of Militia, Ottawa, on November 1, 
1917. 

[154] 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1917 155 

solid ability. He had joined the Canadian Militia as a 
private in 1895 and had worked his way up to the successful 
command of the Fifth British Columbia Eegiment of Gar- 
rison Artillery; he received in 1914, the command of a 
brigade for active service and soon showed elements of 
unusual military capacity. His great opportunity came, 
when in June of this year General Byng was promoted to 
the command of one of the British armies and in issuing a 
Special Order of farewell to the Canadians said : ''During 
the year of my command the unvarying success in battle, the 
progress in training and in discipline, and the unswerving 
devotion and loyalty of all ranks are features which stand 
out prominently in the history of the Corps. That history 
will last forever, and my association with you in the making 
of it is a joy that can never be impaired." Many tributes 
were paid to this popular Commander by the Dominion 
Government, officers and men in personal correspondence, 
and by all who knew his military work of the period. The 
Canadian press, however, was chiefly interested in his suc- 
cessor and various journals hoped it would be a Canadian, 
with Generals Currie and Turner specially mentioned. On 
June 19 it was announced that Sir Arthur Currie — recently 
knighted by the King upon the battlefield of Vimy — had 
been authorized to take over the command. It was a 
remarkable promotion and well illustrated the possibilities 
for natural talent in a great struggle where ability was such 
an obvious essential. In July the new Commander was 
gazetted, with Maj .-General Turner, a Lieut.-General. 

The war efforts and successes of the Canadians during 
1917 came at a stage when the acknowledged high standing 
of their Army Corps was at its best, with a good average 
of mental and physical qualities, excellent conditions of 
discipline and training, a shrewd individual common-sense 
trained in the business of war. There was quick initiative 
and a disregard for red-tape which was characteristic and 
effective when combined with discipline. Canadians had 



156 . CANADA AT WAE 

held at various times a battle-front ranging from about a 
mile on the Ypres salient, 6,000 yards in the fierce fighting of 
June, 1916, and perhaps twelve miles in the Somme offen- 
sive of 1916; early in 1917 they held, according to the 
estimate of Stewart Lyon, when acting as Canadian war 
correspondent, about one-fortieth of the entire Western 
front. During the first months of this year they carried 
out a number of important raids — notably north of Arras 
on January 17 with 1,000 yards of trenches captured; on 
February 15 when a Bavarian battalion was treated to 
mines and bombs and some of their trenches were taken ; on 
February 27 and March 1 when considerable damage was 
done the enemy but with the loss in the latter fight of 
Colonels S. G. Beckett and A. H. G. Kimball, c.b., d.s.o. 

Then came the Battle of Vimy Ridge. It was a part of 
the general attack launched on April 9 by the First and 
Third Armies of the British command along the Arras 
front and the Canadians were given a section of the Arras- 
Lens Road, with Vimy Ridge as their objective. They had 
four Divisions in line assisted by one British brigade. 
Their troops numbered about 75,000, with Lieut.-Gen. Sir 
Julian Byng, k.c.b., in command of the Corps, which was a 
part of the First Army under General Sir H. S. Home, 
K.C.B.; the enemy's Army was under the Crown Prince 
Rupprecht of Bavaria with about 140,000 troops in his 
conunand. The Commanders of the four Canadian Divi- 
sions were, respectively, Majors-General Currie, Burstall, 
Lipsett and Watson; the Infantry Brigades were com- 
manded by Brigadiers-General Garnet B. Hughes, c.m.g., 
W. St. P. Hughes, D.s.o., F. 0. Loomis, d.s.o., G. S. Tuxford, 
C.B., C.M.G., Robert Rennie, c.m.g., m.v.o., d.s.o., A. H. Mac- 
donell, C.M.G., d.s.o., A. C. Macdonell, d.s.o., c.m.g., H. D. B. 
Ketchen, c.m.g., J. H. Elmsley, d.s.o., F. W. Hill, d.s.o., Vic- 
tor W. Odium, D.s.o., and J. H. MacBrien, d.s.o. The attack 
of the Canadian Corps was preceded by a blasting, wither- 
ing fire from British and Canadian artillery which smashed 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1917 157 

Vimy Ridge as though by the combined force of an earth- 
quake and tornado. The defences had been organized on a 
scale proportionate to the importance of the position and 
consisted of an extensive and intricate series of heavily 
wired trench systems, with numerous fire trenches and 
communication trenches, deep and elaborate dug-outs, 
caves and tunnels, concrete machine-gun and trench-mortar 
emplacements, and cunningly constructed redoubts, while 
along the whole front lay a chain of great craters created 
by preceding mine explosions. The following review of the 
Battle itself was written by F. A. McKenzie, a Canadian 
correspondent, who saw the scenes described:* 

"The Canadian lines had been shortened to a front of 
about 7,000 yards from Kennedy Crater to the left to Com- 
mandant House on the right. The left of the line was to 
advance a comparatively small way, but the right had to 
push up about 4,000 yards to the edge of Farbus Wood. 
Were this done the whole of the ridge would fall into our 
hands and give us command of the country below. 

"The preliminary work of the battle began twenty days 
before the advance, when systematic artillery destruction 
of the German lines was opened in earnest. An enormous 
number of guns had been accumulating for the blow. New 
shells were being used, armour-piercing and delayed fuse- 
action shells, which penetrated twenty feet and more into 
the ground, blowing up deep dug-outs. Not more than one- 
half of our guns were employed before the day. These 
positions were carefully concealed. 

' * The Germans knew that a big attack was coming on the 
Arras front, and they knew that the Canadians would 
attack them at Vimy. They did not underrate Canadian 
prowess. 'The Canadians are known to be good troops 
and are, therefore, well suited for assaulting,' wrote Von 
Bachmeister, of the 79th Reserve Division, on March 30th. 

* This extract is taken by permission from F. A. McKenssie's volume, 
Canada's Day of Glory. 



158 CANADA AT WAR 

'There are no deserters to be found among the Canadians. 
... It is very certain that the Canadians are planning 
an attack on a large scale in the immediate future.' Day 
by day every roadway was searched and every suspected 
dump shelled. The bombardment finally reached such an 
intensity that for the last few days it was almost impossible 
for the Germans to bring reliefs or food up to their front 
lines. 

' ' The chalky country around Vimy lends itself to mining. 
In addition to the numerous mines and counter-mines on 
the hill, run by either side, infantry subways had been built, 
deep down with galleries radiating from them. Thanks to 
these, it was possible to bring supplies and men right up 
to the front in safety. During the afternoon and night of 
April 8th men moved up and occupied their positions. The 
hour was approaching. Every soldier knew what was 
expected of him. The plan of battle had been carefully 
explained to all. The troops for weeks had been drilled 
over dummy trenches, modelled on the German. Each man 
knew where he had to go and what he had to do. He knew 
where the dug-outs were that he had to bomb. There was 
an extraordinary spirit of keenness displayed. The com- 
manding officers attributed this largely to the fact that the 
men had been taken into their leaders ' confidence. As Gen- 
eral Tuxford of the Third Brigade said, his brigade 'had 
a very clear idea of what was expected of it and how it 

best could accomplish it The result of this was 

shown in the extraordinary spirit of keenness displayed by 
all ranks — a morale that has never been surpassed. ' 

"The German commanders believed Vimy to be almost 
impregnable. They held the upper ground. On the ground 
above Souchez village they were strengthening their posi- 
tions by building a number of concealed strong points of 
concrete and steel that would resist almost anything except 
a direct hit by heavy shell. Even that would not always 
wreck them. A considerable part of the front was broken 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1917 159 

up by a series of craters — some of enormous size — made 
by systematic mine explosions. Mine craters are among 
the most valuable means of defence, for an attacking enemy 
must creep round the sides, where he can easily be swept 
off by a few men with machine guns. These craters were 
far too big to bridge. Still, more to the left was a series 
of very fine trenches of the most up-to-date type. Scattered 
all around were machine gun groups, well placed and pro- 
tected. Machine-gunners rank with snipers as the pick of 
the German infantry. Behind the lines, in concrete and 
steel forts, were numbers of heavy guns. The gunners 
knew every vital spot ahead and had it exactly registered. 
* ' How is a soldier equipped when he goes into battle 1 Let 
me take the men of one brigade. They were in field service 
marching order, Avith no packs, and with haversacks on 
backs, mess-tins slung outside haversacks, box gas masks 
over all equipment, and the old-fashioned gas helmet under- 
neath. Some carried overcoats and some leather jerkins. 
Besides his rifle and bayonet and one hundred and twenty 
cartridges, every man had either a pick or shovel, four 
hand grenades, two sand-bags, two aeroplane flares, a 
Verey light, a candle and a box of matches. He took with 
him two days' rations and his iron ration. It will thus be 
seen that the load was not a light one. The coming advance 
was divided ahead into four stages. Four imaginary lines 
were drawn : Black, red, blue and brown. The first attack- 
ing parties were to go through to the Black line, following 
their barrage. When they took it they were to dig them- 
selves in, and 'moppers up' were to search the land they 
had overrun, blowing up dug-outs, and attending to any of 
the enemy who still remained there. Then a second party 
was to go through the first and attack the Red line, a third 
through the second for the Blue, and so on to the final 
assault on the Brown line. Every step was exactly timed. 
So many minutes were allowed for capture of the Black 
line, a pause of two hours after the Eed line was taken, and 



160 CANADA AT WAR 

a pause of one and a half hours on the Blue line. Eight 
and a half hours were allowed for the whole operation. 
Then, at the end, patrols were to push out into the valley 
beyond. 

' ' The front was divided into four sections, one for each 
division. The Fifth Imperial Division had been attached 
to the Canadians ; part of it was held in reserve, while the 
Thirteenth Brigade took part in the assault with the Second 
Division. For two days before the attack the weather had 
been fine. On the night of the 8th the sky grew overcast, 
and a bit of wind came up. Then a slight drizzle began to 
fall, and the wind increased, blowing, fortunately, right 
with us. The drizzle increased to a heavy downfall, and the 
rain turned to sleetish snow. By early morning the whole 
field of battle was one mass of beating rain and snow, 
driven before the wind. In the hours before dawn the 
Canadian troops stood waiting in the trenches. It was bit- 
terly cold, and the drenching rain soaked them. The enemy 
was keeping up a precautionary bombardment on our 
trenches. Some of the shells got home, and one or two did 
considerable damage. At one spot two mortars and two 
hundred and fifty rounds were blown up a few minutes 
before zero. 

"Zero, the hour for the beginning of the battle, was five- 
thirty. Exactly to the second close on a thousand guns 
opened fire. Men declared that they had never imagined 
such a pandemonium before. The whole front seemed lit 
up with a sheet of flame. During the previous days the 
most careful observation had been taken of the German 
concealed battery positions. These had been let alone until 
now. Suddenly every one of these positions was continu- 
ously and heavily fired upon. We saw the result after- 
wards, great concrete blocks hurled aside like children's 
toys, steel doors warped and bent, as though a giant had 
shaken them. Some guns were firing to cover all points of 
communication at the rear, and some were maintaining 



CANADIANS AT THE FEONT IN 1917 161 

a standing barrage. There was a rolling barrage, by 
eighteen-pounder guns, moving forward in average leaps 
of one hundred yards. At a given second the infantry, 
every man keyed up to his highest, climbed over the 
trenches and moved forward, following the barrage. 

' ' The whole front was one mass of craters and shell holes. 
The fire had been so intense that it had eliminated the 
German front trenches. When soldiers reached them they 
passed them by without recognition. Only broken cupolas 
and traces of what had been observation posts remained. 
The men tramped forward, following the barrage ahead, 
going through the ever-increasing enemy fire. The shell 
holes — the place seemed to be all shell holes — were full 
of icy water. Wounded men who fell into one of these holes 
died as a rule, drowned in the mud. Let us follow the 
advance division. The First Division had to attack the 
southern slope of the ridge, on a front of, roughly, two 
thousand yards, its final objective being two and a half 
miles from the British front line. The Second and Third 
Brigades led the way, the Second Brigade on the right, and 
the Highland Brigade to the left, with the Canadian Scot- 
tish, the Royal Montreal Regiment and the 48th Highland- 
ers of Toronto ahead, and the Royal Highlanders support- 
ing. Behind was the First Brigade. 

** At first the opposition was slight, and the enemy artil- 
lery fire particularly poor. Soon, however, the whole line 
came under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. Machine-guns 
seemed to be everywhere. Instantly platoons, practising 
what they had learned during the previous weeks, set out 
to envelop and bomb them. The losses, mainly from 
machine-gun fire, soon became very heavy. Every officer 
in the 10th Battalion, save one, was killed or wounded. Now 
was the time for men's mettle to reveal itself. Wounded 
refused to notice their wounds. When all the officers of a 
company were struck down sergeants were ready to lead 



163 CANADA AT WAR 

on. Lieutenant Willis worked his way up to a machine-gun 
that was firing heavily on his battalion (the 5th) and, 
single-handed, captured it, bombing the crew out. Another 
young officer. Lieutenant Williams of the 1st Battalion, 
attacked a machine-gun crew, and captured it with seven- 
teen unwounded prisoners; Lieutenant Stephenson of the 
10th Battalion saw that his men were experiencing great 
trouble from a machine gun. He organized a party to 
attack it. As he moved up he was shot through the throat. 
He kept on notwithstanding, and killed or wounded several 
of the machine-gun crew. The gun was captured. 

''The Highland Brigade to the left got away beautifully, 
and was soon in the thick of a fight. The pipers marched 
with the battalions, skirling bravely. The 16th Battalion 
was proud of its pipe-major, who marched in step, turning 
aside for nothing. Wounded men rose on their elbows to 
cheer him as he passed. Colonel Peck of the 16th was ill 
with gastritis. But he rose from his bed to fight with his 
men, and kept on with them until night. Then, when victory 
was secure, he collapsed, and had to be carried off the field. 
The 48th Highlanders were led by Lieut.-Colonel C. E. Bent, 
who had served the regiment continuously since May, 1915, 
rising from second in command of a company to command 
of the battalion. The 48th had a rather bad experience in 
the assembly trenches in No Man's Land before the battle 
opened. The enemy sent over a number of rifle grenades 
and opened heavy machine-gun fire. Several officers of the 
48th were struck. Captain Alastair Fraser was wounded 
when leading his men into the first German line. He kept 
on; he was again wounded, this time very badly in the 
groin. He now crawled on. Lieutenant Maitland Newman 
was so badly wounded that he could not move, but, after 
he had fallen to the ground, he continued to direct his men. 
Captain MacTier was shot through the thigh. He continued 
with his company several yards further, shouting encour- 
agement, until he could stand no longer. These are typical 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1917 163 

cases. The records of almost every battalion could give 
similar instances. The men were heroes. 

* ' Nothing could keep the Canadians back. When one com- 
pany was wiped out another was sent up to take its place. 
The Black line was reached and passed. Now the two 
brigades were on to the Red line. Opposition stiffened. 
Isolated groups of Germans fought with the utmost despe- 
ration. One machine gun, concealed in concrete in a hay- 
stack, caused heavy loss to the 16th Battalion. Eight 
officers of this battalion were killed and thirteen wounded 
that day. It was now the turn of the First Brigade. The 
1st Battalion was acting as a flanking force. It started in 
the rear of the Second and Third Brigades, which, having 
done their work, were now consolidating. It captured the 
Blue line by eleven o'clock, and at an hour after noon the 
Brown line was in its hands. The soldiers could now see 
the wonderful plain stretched out on the other side of the 
ridge. The weather had cleared, and Douai, twelve miles 
distant, stood out. Between it and the ridge was a great 
stretch of mining villages and factories. 

''Farbus Wood, on the eastern downward slope of the 
ridge, was still being shelled by our guns. As soon as the 
artillery ceased the First went on again. There was a line 
of batteries of German guns at the bottom of the wood. 
The Canadians, with a cheer, rushed them. The Germans 
stood, many of them, to their guns bravely, firing their last 
charges point-blank. By a quarter to six the First Division 
reported that their scouts had cleared Farbus Wood and 
had reached the railway beyond, without opposition. The 
Second Division attacked with four brigades, in place of 
three, and attacked on a two-battalion frontage in place of, 
as with others, three battalions in the line. Eight tanks 
were given to co-operate with this division. They were use- 
less. They could not penetrate through the terrible mud, 
and not one of them even reached the Black line. 



164 CANADA AT WAR 

^'The Fourth and Fifth Brigades attacked the Zwischen 
Stellung, a strong German trench, at a point about 250 
yards west of Les Tilleuls. This was the Black line. Push- 
ing over the shell-pitted ground, amid the heavily beating 
snow and rain, scarcely able to see a few paces ahead, they 
were soon met by very heavy machine-gun fire. For a brief 
space the 19th Battalion was held up by the guns at Bal- 
loon Trench. The troops immediately in front took cover, 
while the flanks stretched out almost automatically, closed 
around and captured the guns. Colonels led their bat- 
talions. Colonel Jones, a very gallant soldier, was wounded 
badly as he led the 21st forward. He was killed sixteen 
months afterward, again leading his men into fight, in our 
great advance of August, 1918. On this day, at Vimy, the 
battalion pressed on, gained their objective and captured 
a German gun with fifteen rounds of ammunition. The 
Fourth Brigade consolidated on the Black line. The Fifth 
Brigade pressed on the Red line. Now the Thirteenth 
Imperial Brigade took a hand in the game. The troops 
were mainly from two famous Imperial regiments, the 
Royal West Kents and the King's Own Scottish Borderers. 
The West Kents and the Canadians had a special interest 
in each other, for they had been the regiment of the Cana- 
dians 's first coHunander in the field. General Alderson. 

* ' The Imperials did their part well. They made their way 
through Goulot Wood, capturing about two hundred pris- 
oners, four machine-guns, and two eight-inch howitzers. 
Then they advanced to the final objective, where they were 
met by a nest of artillery. The guns fired at them at point- 
blank range. A company of the K. 0. S. B. attacked them 
with rifle grenades and Lewis guns. They took three 5.0 
howitzers, four 77-mm. guns, one damaged howitzer, and a 
90-mm. gun. The Canadians appreciated to the full the 
assistance given to them, and showed their appreciation in 
every possible way. To go back to the remainder of the 
Second Division. As the troops moved further on the Ger- 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1917 165 

man resistance stiffened. At first many of the Huns had 
been so demoralized by our artillery fire that they sur- 
rendered easily. Some of the trenches on the Lens- Arras 
road were found to be unoccupied, save for isolated parties, 
who put up a very stout fight. 

** Grenadier, Graben and Dump Trenches were held in 
force, with many men and machine-guns. The Canadians 
worked round these, some companies holding the front 
while others enveloped and rushed them, taking in the two 
trenches 396 prisoners. The 25th Battalion, which was 
now in the front, lost its commander, Major de Lancey. 
The second in command. Major A. 0. Blois, although 
wounded, took over charge and continued to direct his men 
all day. By 10 a. m. the Division was well forward. The 
29th Battalion had taken Thelus Trench and the 28th and 
31st Battalions had carried the western end of Thelus vil- 
lage. The 29th fought through a sunken road to a mill 
which had given some of our troops much trouble. The 
third objective was ours at a few minutes past 11 o'clock. 

"While 'mopping up' was proceeding vigorously, the 
troops came on a number of caves, an historic feature of 
Vimy Ridge. These caves are said to have been the place 
of refuge of the Huguenots from Arras, where they met 
and worshipped when proscribed and hunted. Now they 
were refuges of another kind. Numbers of German 
troops, unable to endure our shell fire, had taken shelter in 
them. One lieutenant bagged over one hundred men in a 
single cave. The caves were deep enough to be safe. It 
was an extraordinary sensation to go down in them in the 
midst of the overwhelming noise and muddy misery above, 
and to find oneself in sombre quiet, in a series of chambers 
where a division might be given refuge. Our men had pro- 
vided themselves ahead with a special kind of bomb for 
throwing down dug-outs and caves. It did not kill, but 
made such an intolerable reek that any below had to come 
out or be choked. 



166 CANADA AT WAR 

* * The hottest German resistance was, perhaps, on the last 
line of all. Here the 27th and 29th Battalions met with 
heavy opposition. The German gunners held their line of 
concrete gun positions well, firing point-blank as the Cana- 
dians came over the slope. They used machine-guns, rifles 
and revolvers. The gun positions were taken at the 
point of the bayonet. The Second Division by early in 
the afternoon had seized all its objectives, and was pushing 
out its patrols through Farbus Village beyond. The briga- 
dier of the foremost troops was anxious to go on. The 
weather had cleared. His men were flushed with victory. 
Could he have struck then, in conjunction with the troops 
of the other divisions near by, we might have swept through 
the line of villages beyond, that afterwards was to hold us 
for so long. But the limit of artillery range had been 
reached. Hours before word had been given for the guns 
to move up. Slipping, slithering, fighting, swearing, the 
gunners were striving to force their horses on. But it was 
almost impossible to move them. Guns were half buried in 
mud. Wheels slipped through the mire with nothing to 
grip. The Sixth Brigade endeavoured that night to seize 
the railway line and the station east of Farbus Wood. But 
it was strongly held with many machine-guns. 

' ' The Third Division had not so far to go as the First or 
Second, its final objective being the Red line. A great part, 
of its work was the clearing of La Folic Wood, which was 
strongly held by the enemy. The fighting here much 
resembled that on other parts. The famous brigades led 
the way, the Eighth to the right, composed of four bat- 
talions of the Canadian Mounted Rifles; and the Seventh 
to the left, including the Royal Canadian Regiment, the 
'Princess Pats,' the 42d and the 49th. . . . The snow, 
rain and wind caused much trouble, for troops could not 
see where they were. Nevertheless, the Seventh Brigade 
was in the Black line by 6 o'clock and the Eighth soon 
after. The troops were very seriously hampered by the 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1917 167 

position on their left, and it was clear that things were not 
going well there. The left flank should by this time have 
been captured by the Fourth Division, but it was still in 
enemy hands. Raking machine-gun fire from it caused 
much loss, particularly to the 42nd. As this battalion 
advanced German troops sprang up behind it. The troops 
had to form a defensive flank, pivoting on a crater. A com- 
munication trench was dug, which also served as a defensive 
flank. By 9 o'clock the final objective had been taken, many 
hundreds of prisoners captured, and Folie Wood cleared. 
But the position of the division was by no means comfort- 
able, for its whole left was threatened by a well-placed and 
active foe. 

"The Fourth Division, on the extreme left, covered a 
frontage of about 2,000 yards. The attack here was made 
by the Eleventh and Twelfth Brigades. The 87th and 102nd 
Battalions led the attack of the Eleventh Brigade. A com- 
manding hillock, known as 'The Pimple,' dominated the 
position, and the enemy had covertly constructed a number 
of strong concrete and steel machine-gun positions, which 
swept the place in every direction. These had been built 
so secretly and camouflaged so cleverly that their presence 
had not been discovered by our artillery. When our troops 
jumped over the top, they were promptly met by a devas- 
tating fire. The 87th Battalion lost 60 per cent, of its men 
in a very short time, and its support, the 75th, did not 
reach it. The 102nd Battalion attained its objective, but 
every oflicer was killed or wounded, and the command of 
the battalion fell on a company sergeant-major. The 54th, 
supporting the 102nd, reached its objective, but it could 
not remain there, and had to retire. When the troops 
advanced they found Germans would spring up behind 
them and attack them from the rear. The enemy had built 
tunnels in the slope and would conceal themselves while 
our men passed and then come out. The right of the 87th 
was held up, and never reached the enemy's front line. 



168 CANADA AT WAE 

"Hour after hour Germans and Canadians fought on, 
often hand to hand. The machine-gun positions could not be 
broken down. The Twelfth Brigade was faring little bet- 
ter. At the start the ground was in such an appalling state 
that the troops could not keep up with the barrage. They 
groped along, almost blindly, because of the storm. They 
were fighting around a nest of craters. When the 38th 
imagined that they had captured their crater positions, 
and were consolidating, they found that three craters 
behind them were still in enemy hands. When the 78th, 
who were in support, pushed through the 38th, they suc- 
ceeded in reaching their first objective, in spite of the heavy 
fire from the Pimple. Some men pushed on to their final 
objective, actually reaching it. They were immediately 
attacked from behind by German troops, who emerged from 
dug-outs and overwhelmed them. Not a man came back. 
We only learned where they had got days afterwards, when 
the final objective was taken and the bodies of the men of 
the 78th found there. While these were being slaughtered, 
a considerable body of Germans counter-attacked the weak- 
ened main body of the 78th. Every available man at the 
headquarters of the 38th and 78th Battalions had to be sent 
up and a company of sixty men from the 73rd was hurried 
forward. Even then it seemed for a considerable time that 
our attack might be turned into a retreat. The troops were 
hard put to it to hold the line. 

''The 72nd Battalion was fighting in the centre of the 
brigade. The trenches here had in part been absolutely 
wiped out by shell fire. All sense of direction was lost. 
The troops fought until they got right around Montreal 
Crater, one of the largest on the western front. They kept 
on until they struck against the German tram line which 
goes down the hill in the direction of Souchez Village. But 
Ihey could go no further. How desperately the 73rd fought 
can be judged by the casualties. Every officer in A Com- 
pany was killed or wounded, and only fourteen of the rank 



CANADIANS AT THE FKONT IN 1917 169 

and file unharmed; only one officer and twelve of other 
ranks were left in B Company, fifteen rank and file in C 
Company, and eighteen rank and file in D Company. The 
73rd Battalion, which attacked on the extreme left, was the 
most fortunate of all. It took its objective easily, with very 
few casualties. 

"By early in the afternoon the position of the Fourth 
Division was very unsatisfactory. The losses had been 
heavy and there was little to show for them. The men had 
displayed splendid gallantry, but the mud, which was 
specially bad at this section of the ridge, and the unbroken 
German positions had proved too strong. Over one part 
of the line Canadians and Germans were maintaining an 
intermittent fight from shell-hole to shell-hole and from 
crater to crater. The job had to be done. Troops were 
reformed in the afternoon. In the night they attacked 
again, the 85th and the 42nd driving the enemy over the 
crest of the Pimple. Next day another attack completely 
captured that position. With it in our hands the rest was 
a matter of detail." 

The honour won in this action was great and promised to 
be permanent; the comments were world-wide and eulogis- 
tic of the Canadian forces; the congratulations many and 
earnest. As Percival Phillips, of the London Morning 
Post, put it (April 10) : "The Canadians hold Vimy Eidge 
and dominate the beaten enemy beyond it. They fought 
their way from the foot to the crest and continued their 
progress down the steeper eastern slope to-day. It is the 
bitterest German defeat of all. The Ridge which barred our 
path to the plain of Douai was regarded by Prince Rup- 
precht's armies, like many other defences since lost, as an 
impregnable fortress capable of resisting any assault. Yet 
the Canadians took it on a time-table, which, save in one 
trifling instance, was faithfully adhered to, and flung the 
Bavarian front back into the ruins of Vimy and the scarred 
12 



170 CANADA AT WAR 

field below. '^ In an editorial of April 11 the New York 
Tribune declared that: "No praise of the Canadian 
achievement can be excessive. From the plains and from 
the mountains, from the cities and from the prairies, Can- 
ada has poured out her thousands and her hundreds of 
thousands; she has sent across the ocean an army greater 
than Napoleon ever commanded on any battle-field; her 
volunteer regiments have shown the same stubborn and 
tenacious quality which is the glory of the British Army." 

From the British press came whole-hearted and unstinted 
eulogy. Little in comparison was said of the English north- 
country and Scottish troops who, in this far-flung Arras 
fight, also captured dozens of fortified and difficult places 
on the way to Lens and Cambrai and St. Quentin, took 
about 10,000 prisoners and many guns and in six days 
advanced six miles and smashed the tradition of trench 
impregnability. The imagination of old and new countries 
alike was caught by the specific Canadian success. From 
the King in London and the Prime Minister at Ottawa came 
congratulations, and from Sir Edward Kemp an official 
cable, from the Governor-General of Australia and Mr. 
Walter Long, Colonial Secretary, came cabled eulogies, 
while General Sir Henry Home made this official state- 
ment: "By the troops of the First Army the Vimy Ridge 
has been regarded as a position of very great strength. 
The Germans have considered it impregnable. To have 
carried this position with so little loss testifies to soundness 
of plan, thoroughness of preparation, dash and determina- 
tion in execution, and devotion to duty on the part of all 
concerned. The ninth of April will be a historic day in the 
annals of the British Empire.'' In a Special Order Field 
Marshal Sir Douglas Haig said: "The capture of the 
renowned Vimy Ridge is an achievement of the highest 
order and of which Canada may well be proud." 

The operations of this first phase in the Battle of Arras 
were continued on April 28 on a front of eight miles and 



CANADIANS AT THE FRONT IN 1917 171 

followed preliminary attacks held up by insufficiently 
destroyed wire entanglements. The objectives of the Cana- 
dian Corps on this date consisted of Arleux-en-Gohelle and 
the German trench system west of the village known as the 
Arleux Loop. The attacking troops were ordered to 
advance to a definite line east of the village, and there con- 
solidate a position in preparation for further operations. 
This attack was launched at 4 :45 a. m., and in spite of deter- 
mined resistance on the part of the German infantry the 
whole of the enemy's trench line was successfully carried. 
Severe fighting took place in Arleux but the garrison of the 
village was gradually overcome, and the objectives gained. 
Some hundreds of prisoners were taken and the line held. 
In further co-operation with the British advance and in a 
general attack from BuUecourt to Fresnoy, the Canadian 
troops stormed the latter village and the German defences 
north of it towards a point close to Acheville. The German 
infantry offered the most stubborn resistance throughout 
the advance, and the fighting was bitter, German losses 
heavy and hundreds of prisoners taken. In consequence of 
a failure to capture Oppy this position at Fresnoy became a 
sharp salient and after the Canadians had been relieved by 
a British division was, on the 8th, evacuated. 

Progress was made, however, from the readjusted Cana- 
dian trenches and on June 12 a number of trenches were 
captured and consolidated with counter-attacks repulsed. 
On the 24th of June Canadian troops co-operated with the 
British brigade on their left in a successful attack north of 
the Souchez River, by which an important section of the 
enemy's trench system was seized on a front of about 400 
yards. Next day this success was followed up on both banks 
of the river. Canadian troops occupied the German 
trenches from the northwest edge of La Coulotte to the 
river, while further north, troops of the neighbouring Brit- 
ish division made equal progress. On the 26th of June the 
advance of the Canadian Corps was resumed under cover 



173 CANADA AT WAR 

of an Artillery barrage and rapid progress made on the 
whole front between the Arras-Lens railway and the river. 
All objectives were gained, including La Coulotte village. 
On June 27 the enemy's trenches south of Avion were 
attacked and captured and on the 28th a general attack was 
launched with Canadian troops pushing through Avion and 
Eleu dit Leauvette. 

It was in this stage of the fighting that Lieut.-Colonel 
Russell Britton, d.s.o., was killed by a shell. Writing to the 
London Chronicle, Philip Gibbs said: "These men who 
took Arleux and Fresnoy are great soldiers, excelling in 
certain qualities of spirit which make them terrible in 
attack and strong to endure . . . Imagine the spirit of 
men who will walk through two barrages, falling walls of 
shell-fire, in order to get at the enemy beyond. That was 
What happened on the way to Fresnoy." Of the fighting 
around Coulotte there was one brilliant piece in which a 
central electric station, forming an outpost of Lens, was 
finally taken by British Columbian troops on June 6. This 
part of the struggle around Lens, including Coulotte and 
other actions, brought Canadians within a mile of the centre 
of this great mining city and region while movements or 
raids in August captured other positions on the way — 
especially on August 21 when lines of trenches skirting 
the town were taken, with 200 prisoners. Meanwhile, on 
August 15, the chief portion of the Canadian troops had 
attacked on a front of 4,000 yards southeast of Loos with 
the strong fortification called Hill 70 as the objective. It 
had been reached by the British, but not held, in the Battle 
of Loos on September 25, 1915. The assault now was suc- 
cessful at light cost and in exact accordance with plans 
while, at the same time, three mining suburbs of Lens were 
captured. The succeeding actions resulting in the capture 
of Passchendaele Ridge were thus described by Sir Douglas 
Haig in his report of December 25 : 



CANADIANS AT THE FEONT IN 1917 173 

On October 26 English and Canadian troops 
attacked on a front extending from the Ypres- 
Eoulers Eailway to beyond Poelcappelle. The 
Canadians attacked on the right on both sides of 
the small stream knoAvn as the Ravebeek, which 
flows south-westward from Passchendaele. On the 
left bank of the stream they advanced astride the 
main ridge and established themselves securely on 
the small hill south of Passchendaele. North of 
the Ravebeek strong resistance was met on the 
Bellevue Spur, a very strong point which had 
resisted our efforts in previous attacks. With 
splendid determination the Canadians renewed 
their attack on this point in the afternoon and cap- 
tured it. Two strong counter-attacks south and 
west of Passchendaele were beaten oif, and by 
nightfall the Canadians had gained practically the 
whole of their objectives. 

On October 30 Canadian and English troops 
attacked at 5 :50 a. m. on a front extending from 
the Ypres-Roulers Railway to the Poelcappelle- 
Westroosebeke road. On the right the Canadians 
continued their advance along the 'high ground and 
reached the outskirts of Passchendaele, capturing 
an important position at Crest Farm on a small 
hill south-west of the village. Fighting was severe 
at all points, but particularly on the spur west of 
Passchendaele. Here no less than five strong 
counter-attacks were beaten off in the course of 
the day, our troops being greatly assisted by the 
fire of captured German machine guns in Crest 
Farm. At 6 a. m. on November 6 Canadian troops 
renewed their attack and captured the village of 
Passchendaele, together with the high ground 
immediately to the north and north-west. Sharp 
fighting took place for the possession of pill-boxes 
in the northern end of the village, around Mossel- 
markt, and on the Goudberg Spur. All objectives 
were gained at an early hour, and at 8 :50 a. m. a 
hostile counter-attack was beaten off. Over 400 
prisoners were captured in this most successful 
attack, by which for the second time within the 
year, Canadian troops achieved a record of unin- 
terrupted success. Four days later, in extremely 
unfavourable weather, British and Canadian troops 
attacked northward from Passchendaele and Goud- 



174 CANADA AT WAR 

berg, and captured further ground on the main 
ridge after heavy fighting. 

No brief record, such as this must be, can give any idea 
of what the fighting of these months involved; of the uni- 
versal courage displayed or the heroism so often evoked 
by opportunity and marked by honours from the Crown or 
mention in despatches ; of the privations cheerfully endured, 
of the friendly emulation with Empire or Allied soldiers. 
Canadian troops did not like too much praise — though it 
would have been difficult to really reach that point. They 
were at this time amongst the best troops on the Front ; to 
say that they were better than the best British or French 
soldiers would be to express an impossibility. Of the vari- 
ous events summarized above it may be said that the official 
British report of August 15 described the storming of two 
miles of German positions east of Loos: *'The formidable 
defences on Hill 70, which resisted our attacks in the Battle 
of Loos in September, 1915, and had since been improved 
and strengthened by every method and device known to our 
enemies, were carried by assault." These lines were held, 
after their capture by Canadians, against what The Times 
described as "repeated German counter-attacks of the 
bloodiest and most costly description." It was probably 
the most desperate fighting that the Canadian Corps had 
faced during the year, and on August 22 they took another 
mile of trenches under similar conditions and held one 
advanced post within Lens itself. This conflict was marked 
by a bloody personal encounter with bayonets in which 
neither combatant would yield — until the Canadians won 
over the dead bodies of the enemy. Between the 15th and 
22nd 1,400 prisoners were taken. Sir Douglas Haig on the 
23rd sent this message to General Currie : 

I desire to congratulate you personally on the 
complete and important success with which your 
command of the Canadian Corps has been inaugu- 
rated. The Division you employed on August 15 
totally defeated four German divisions, whose 



CANADIANS AT THE FBONT IN 1917 175 

losses are reliably estimated at more than double 
those suffered by the Canadian troops. The skill, 
bravery, and determination shown in the attack 
and in maintaining the positions won against 
repeated heavy counter-attacks were in all respects 
admirable. 

To Sir Edward Kemp, General Currie cabled in reply to 
congratulations that ''in repeated and determined counter- 
attacks the flower of the German army was thrown against 
us, but our line remained unshaken as our own Eockies. 
Will not the pride which you say Canada has in her sons 
inspire her to send us men to take the place of those so 
nobly fallen f As days and weeks passed the Canadians 
pressed upon and crowded the defenders of Lens — raiding 
at times the very heart of the blood-stained city, holding 
houses faced by the enemy across the street, fighting day 
and night, winning many decorations and multiplying inci- 
dents of heroism. Then they were relieved and placed on 
the Passchendaele line, where more open and conspicuous 
fighting took place, and they smashed their way through 
Bellevue Spur and other fortifications to and over the 
Eidge as already described. Of the Bellevue fight much 
might be said. While pressing up the slope the men at 
times were almost hip-deep in the squelching mire, but 
struggled onward for six hours until, in the face of a shat- 
tering machine-gun fire, they were ordered to withdraw 
temporarily. Then reinforcements were brought up, the 
waves reorganized, the Canadians advanced again and yard 
by yard the semi-liquid slope was breasted. Pill-box after 
pill-box was cleared until the crest of the spur was reached 
and passed. In the British offensive of June-October, 
which as a whole took in the Messines, Wytschaete, Zonne- 
beke, Pilken and Passchendaele Eidges, the Canadians had 
captured the last-mentioned after taking Meetchele Village 
in a notable preliminary action. 

This fighting on the outposts of Flanders gave the Corps 
new reputation and the French press could not say too 



176 CANADA AT WAR 

much of the initiative, persistence and cool courage shown. 
General Currie wrote Sir G. Perley on November 7 that: 
* ' The situation was that certain tactical features had to be 
taken. Canadians were brought to do the job ; so far they 
have done it mighty well. ' ^ The Canadian Cavalry, chiefly 
Fort Garry Horse, which aided General Byng at Cambrai, 
performed some work on November 20 which ranked with 
the best exploits of the kind in Empire history — one squad- 
ron charging upon and capturing an enemy battery and 
racing two miles into the enemy lines over infantry and 
other obstacles, and then fighting its way back, or the 43 
who remained did, through guns and soldiers to Masnieres. 
It may be added that Canadian casualties were reported as 
13,000 at Vimy Ridge, 10,000 in the fighting of June, July 
and August, 10,000 at Hill 70 and 24,000 at Passchendaele. 
The chief Army appointment of the year was Brig.-Gen. 
E. W. B. Morrison, d.s.o., as Canadian Artillery Corps 
Commander in succession to Maj.-Gen. Burstall ; Brig.-Gen. 
A. H. Macdonell, c.b., c.m.g., d.s.o., retired from active 
service. In September Walter A. Willison was named as 
Canadian Press representative with the troops in succes- 
sion to Stewart Lyon, who had held the post for about a 
year. 



CHAPTER X 

THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 

During the last phases of the War in France and Bel- 
gium there were about 160,000 Canadians at the Front, 
including an Army Corps of four infantry Divisions of 
80,000 men under command of Sir Arthur Currie ; a Cana- 
dian Cavalry Brigade 3,000 strong under Gfeneral Seely, 
and, after the middle of the year, Brig.-Gen. R. W. Pater- 
son, D.s.o. ; numerous and effectively organized line of com- 
munication units, railway, forestry, engineer, medical, 
ambulance, sanitary, veterinary, dental, salvage, and other 
Services. The Divisional commanders of the Infantry were 
as follows : Maj.-Gen. Sir A. C. Macdonell, k.c.b., c.m.g., d.s.o., 
First Division; MaJ.-Gen. Sir H. E. Burstall, k.c.b., c.m.g., 
Second Division; Maj.-Gen. F. 0. Loomis, c.b., c.m.g., d.s.o.. 
Third Division; Maj.-Gen. Sir David Watson, k.c.b., c.m.g., 
Fourth Division. Headquarters officials included Brig.- 
Gen. R. J. L. Hayter, c.m.g., d.s.o., Brig.-Gen. G. J. Farmer 
and Maj.-Gen. W. B. Lindsay, c.m.g., d.s.o.; the Artillery 
commander was Maj.-Gen. E. W. B. Morrison, c.b., c.m.g., 
D.s.o., and his five Divisional corps commanders were 
Brigadiers-General H. C. Thacker, c.m.g., d.s.o., H. A. 
Panet, c.b., c.m.g., d.s.o., J. S. Stewart, c.m.g., d.s.o., W. B. M. 
King, C.M.G., D.s.o., W. 0. H. Dodds, c.m.g.; the Machine 
Gun Corps was connnanded by Brig.-Gen. R. Brutinel, 
C.M.G., D.s.o., and the Canadian representative at General 
Headquarters was Brig.-Gen. J. F. L. Embury, c.m.g., 
D.s.o.; the Railway troops were led by Brig.-Gen. J. W. 
Stewart, c.b., c.m.g., and the Army Medical Services by 
Brig.-Gen. A. T. Ross, c.b., c.m.g.; the Siberian Expedi- 
tionary Force was commanded by Maj.-Gen. J. H. Elmsley, 
C.B., c.m.g., and Brig.-Gen. H. C. Bickford, c.m.g.. The 

[177] 



178 CANADA AT WAK 

Infantry Brigade commanders in France and Flanders 
were as follows: 

Brig. -Gen. W. A. Griesbach, C.M.G., d.s.o. 
Brig. -Gen. G. S. Tuxford, C.B., c.m.g. 
Brig.-Gen. George E. McCuaig, C.M.G., D.s.0. 
Brig.-Gen. T. L. Tremblay, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Brig.-Gen. Alex. Ross, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Brig.-Gen. J. A. Clark, D.S.O. 
Brig.-Gen. D. C. Draper, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Brig.-Gen. D. M. Ormond, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Brig.-Gen. J. M. Ross, c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Brig.-Gen. Victor W. Odium, c.B., c.m.g., d.s.o. 
Brig.-Gen. J. H. MacBrien, c.B., c.m.g., d.s.o. 

The Canadian Force had in its three years of fighting 
maintained its identity better than any other army corps 
at the front; the press of a whole Continent had contrib- 
uted to increase its meed of public appreciation; its own 
people showed the American likkig for publicity and a not 
unnatural aversion to the military censorship — which 
inevitably made some mistakes. Canadian troops, there- 
fore, received much praise ; they deserved it all and more, 
but they were the first to resent the statement that they 
were the best troops in the field — a continuous battle 
ground where all were brave to the limit of human life and 
endurance. But Canadians did undoubtedly unite dash and 
initiative, in the later part of the war, with discipline, and 
the combination was exceptional ; they worked hard, fought 
stubbornly and with typical British confidence never 
doubted the outcome ; they were clean and smart in appear- 
ance, proud of themselves and their country in a self- 
respecting and assured way. Writing on March 8, 1918, 
to F. B. McCurdy, m.p., General Currie stated that: "We 
look back on the year 1917 with a great deal of pride, feel- 
ing quite sure that in that period the Canadian Corps more 
than did its share in helping to win the war. It seemed 
like one continuous battle, and one continuous series of suc- 
cesses. What is an interesting thing to me is that during 
1917 the battle casualties were less than during 1916" — 



THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 179 

excluding the Fourth Division, which was an addition to 
the forces in 1917. During 1918 the Canadian Corps was 
destined to do more than even in the preceding year. At 
first it was a deliberate and sustained policy of harassing 
and worrying the enemy with raids of all kinds and in all 
degrees of surprise attack and successful action. These 
were months of hard work and bitter trench fighting, also, 
along the British and French lines, of preparation and 
waiting, of bombardment and bombing, of serial fighting and 
preliminary efforts of every kind to minimize or neutralize 
the tremendous shock of German attack which became inev- 
itable when the superiority of numbers passed from the 
Allies to the Teutons and the vast resources of the Aus- 
trian eastern front became apparently available to the 
enemy. The Canadians did not take an active part in meet- 
ing the first German aggressive — the great shock of arms 
which brought the enemy so near Paris and so near the 
Coast. They were, however, moved about a good deal; 
they saw considerable minor fighting; they had a record 
from April to June which was officially recorded as follows : 

April 1 Canadian cavalry brigade aided in capture of Moreuil and wood 
to north of it. 
5 Canadians repulsed raids on Vimy-Arras front. 
11 Canadians under heavy artillery bombardment repulsed attack at 

Vimy and won ground in raids. 
22 Canadians defeated Germans in big gas attack north of Lens. 
25-28 Canadians in series of trench raids at Vimy. 

29 Canadians attacked Germans at Lens; took prisoners and machine 
guns. 
May 3 Bombardment opened on the Lys river. Canadians in successful 
operation. 
7 Successful Canadian raid at Neuville. Canadians took over part 
of the line south of Arras, embracing Neuville-Vitasse, Mercatil, 
and Boisleux-St. Marc. 

27 Raids by Canadians. 

28 Canadian cavalry cleared the Germans from advantageous positions 

in small woods south of the river Luce. 

28 Heavy fighting south of Arras on the 21st of the month. Opera- 

tions of the Canadian Corps. 

29 Heavy bombardment on the Canadian front (Arras-Lens). Enemy 

lines raided. 



180 CANADA AT WAR 

June 6 Ontario troops harassed the enemy in region south of Arras. 
25 Canadians raided enemy trenches south of the Scarpe. 
30 Canadian forces were once again in the front line and continually 
harassing the enemy. 

Meanwhile the Corps was intensely anxious to get into 
the real battles of that great period and by the anniversary 
of the fourth year of War conditions permitted of their 
more active participation — encouraged by a message from 
General Currie in which, with characteristic earnestness, 
he reviewed the past few years of achievement and added : 
"Then, we turn our minds to the future with confidence 
born of past success, with unshakeable belief in the justice 
of our cause, with unfaltering faith in God, who alone 
giveth victory, we pledge ourselves afresh to the work in 
hand, the fight for freedom, righteousness, and humanity. ' ' 
After months of training and desultory fighting they were 
deemed ready for the new style of open warfare which had 
replaced the trench system in which they had originally 
been trained. F. A. McKenzie, a trustworthy correspond- 
ent, dealt with the subject as follows on August 10: '*! 
was with the Corps during part of the period of prepara- 
tion, and it was impossible then to fully describe the revo- 
lutionized methods. The troops had to be physically fit to 
endure entirely different conditions from trench warfare, 
accustoming themselves afresh to long marches and rapid 
movements. The artillery equipment was partly trans- 
formed, the greatest attention being given to mobile guns 
and mortars, which could be brought forward in carts over 
almost any ground: emplacements constructed instantly, 
and guns made ready for action. ' ' 

The result was that between August 8-10 the Canadians 
advanced as part of the forces in the great Battle of Amiens 
with perfect confidence in their leaders. Organization and 
staff were alike excellent and the troops amply backed by 
an enormous force of aeroplanes and whippet tanks. They 
captured many prisoners — 6,000 on the first day, with 



THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 181 

every gun in sight — and in conjunction with the Australian 
forces took Meharicourt, Bonchoir, Lihons, Rancourt, 
Proyart, Warvilliers, and Beaufort. All objectives were 
attained and the artillery in particular distinguished itself. 
Between the 12th and 17th a new drive forward was made 
south of Villers-Bretonneux to the Avre, and in conjunc- 
tion with British and French forces considerable gains were 
made — including the capture of Parvillers and Damery on 
the road to Roye. To the Corps came congratulations from 
Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig upon its successful carry- 
ing out of these operations, while Lieut.-Gen. Sir Henry 
Rawlinson of the Fourth British Army, under whom it was 
now serving, issued this statement: ''I desire to place on 
record my sincere appreciation of the conspicuous and 
highly successful part played by the Canadian Force in 
the battle of August 8. The task allotted to them was not 
easy, especially on the right, where the initial attack was 
delivered under special difficulty. The need for secrecy 
which necessitated the assembly of the force by night in 
an area previously unknown to them enhanced the difficul- 
ties, especially when the front line had of necessity to be 
held by other troops. The determination with which all 
obstacles were overcome, the dash and gallantry with which 
the assault was delivered, and the precision with which each 
advance was made exactly on scheduled time reflect the 
highest credit both on the staff arrangements and the fine 
fighting spirit of all units which took part in the operation. ' ' 
Other messages poured in, while the London Times' cor- 
respondent on August 27 said of this battle : ' ' On the main 
battle front the honour of the first advance was shared by 
the Australians and Canadians. In structure it was chiefly 
a Canadian battle. It was their advance on the Luce that 
was the core and crux of the operation, and on their prog- 
ress depended the advance of both the Australians on their 
left and that of the successive French armies on their right, 
each of which was thrown in only as the advance above it 



182 CANADA AT WAR 

prospered. The Canadians are right, I think, in claiming 
that the fighting of those first two days was the biggest 
thing Canada has done in the War." In these operations, 
ending August 17, 10,000 prisoners, 150 guns, thousands of 
machine guns and 22 towns were captured by the Cana- 
dians. Following this the Corps was moved by a wide 
detour march or transport over 100 miles from the vicinity 
of Koye to that of Arras. 

On August 26-27 an important new advance followed 
southeast of Arras. Wancourt, Guemappe and Monchy-le- 
Preux were captured and all objectives reached, while on 
the next three days the Corps pressed on toward a point 
on the Hindenburg Line called the Drocourt-Queant switch 
of the Wotan defensive system. At this juncture the Corps 
was fighting side by side with Scottish troops, and on the 
28th captured Pelves and Boiry-Notre Dame. By Septem- 
ber 1 the advance was following the Cambrai road and 
nearing the Drocourt-Queant line with its trenches pro- 
tected by powerful and inter-laced belts of wire with barbs 
an inch long, commanded by ferro-concrete positions every 
100 yards — each holding machine guns with ** pill-boxes" 
and other guns in between these positions; it was stated 
that this part of the line was held by seven Prussian and 
Bavarian divisions. General Currie had under his imme- 
diate command two Canadian divisions and in the final 
assault was supported by portions of four greatly depleted 
English divisions — London, Lancashire, Naval and Low- 
land. Between them on the 2nd, with the Canadians well 
to the front, the greatest German position from Cambrai 
to the Belgian Coast was taken in a few hours' fighting 
and the villages or rather Hindenburg fortifications of 
Dury, Villers-les-Cagnicourt and Cagnicourt captured and 
held by the Canadians. 

With characteristic British generosity the London press 
gave all the credit of the great victory to the Canadians. 
As the Daily Chronicle put it so did the other leading 



THE YEAE OF VICTORY — 1918 183 

dailies : ' ' The Hun switch line west of Arras which defends 
Qneant and Douai has been completely broken through by 
the Canadians on a front of six miles. It is a remarkable 
military feat, for the position comprised one of the most 
formidable, if not the most formidable, defences which the 
enemy possessed.'' F. M. Sir Douglas Haig in his official 
report stated that : *'0n September 2 the Drocourt-Queant 
line was broken, the maze of trenches at the junction of 
that line and the Hindenburg system was stormed and the 
enemy was thrown into precipitate retreat on the whole 
front to the south of it. This gallant feat of arms was 
carried out by the Canadian Corps of the First Army, 
employing the First and Fourth Canadian Divisions and 
the Fourth English Division, and the 17th Corps of the 
Third Army, employing the 52nd, 57th and 63rd Divisions. 
The assault of the Canadians was launched at 5 a. m. on a 
front of about four and one-half miles south of the Trinquis 
Brook, our infantry being supported by 40 tanks of the 
Third Tank Brigade and assisted by a mobile force of motor 
machine-gun units, Canadian cavalry and armoured cars. 
The attack was a complete success, and by noon the whole 
of the elaborate system of wire, trenches and strong points 
constituting the Drocourt-Queant line on the front of our 
advance was in our hands." 

The enemy retreated to the Canal du Nord position, 
where, as the Canadians advanced, they had to meet and 
repulse fierce German counter-attacks. Between the 15th 
and 23rd of September there were several assaults by the 
Corps along this Canal in which one position was taken 
and re-taken four times and the Canadians were under 
practically continuous shell-fire. Cherisy was taken, the 
Bois du Sort stormed, and at Vis-en-Artois the Canadians 
stood further east on the Scarpe sector than had any Allied 
troops since 1914. On the 27th the famous Bourlon Wood, 
of 1917 and British battle effort, was captured and the 
Canal du Nord crossed under support of a great concen- 



184 CANADA AT WAR 

tration of Imperial artillery fire. This part of the line, 
like that of Droconrt, was considered impregnable, but 
when the attack was once made the Canadians and their 
British comrades went through and over everything, and 
the former in one day penetrated five miles beyond and 
captured many prisoners and guns. A memorable feature 
of the Canal crossing (125 feet wide and 45 feet deep) was a 
bridge of tanks with fighting tanks crossing on their backs. 
This advance brought the Canadians and the British 
Naval division into the outskirts of Cambrai and included 
the capture of Ossy le Berger, Epiney, Haynecourt, Mar- 
quin, Sailly, and other fortress-like villages. During two 
months ' fighting the Canadian Corps had, in fact, captured 
69 towns and villages from the German armies. The Battle 
of Cambrai which followed was a desperate conflict and 
Canadian troops declared it to be the hardest fighting they 
had faced in France. So with the nearby English divisions. 
On October 9 Cambrai was finally entered after the Cana- 
dians had captured Cuvillers and the Neuville, St. Remy 
and Ramillies suburbs of the city. As to this series of 
struggles General Sir David Watson reported to the Min- 
ister of Militia at Ottawa (Toronto Star, November 5) : "I 
find that there were no less than thirteen divisions, consist- 
ing of eighty-four battalions, pitted against us during the 
first terrible days. The Boche actually threw division 
against division, and unit after unit, regardless of cost, in 
his attempt to stop our victorious progress. It was the 
hardest fighting that our Canadians have been up against, 
and the manner in which they took these terrible gruellings 
and assaults is one of the most creditable occurrences in 
the annals of this great war." Meantime, on October 3, 
General Currie had issued a Special Order to his Corps : 

I wish to express to all troops now fighting in 
the Canadian Corps my high appreciation of the 
splendid fighting qualities displayed by them in the 
successful battle of the last five days. The mission 




*^ 



o 



M- 



THE YEAK OF VICTORY — 1918 185 

assigned to the Corps was the protection of the 
flank of the Third and Fourth Armies in their 
advance, and that mission has been carried out to 
the complete satisfaction of the Commander-in- 
Chief. As you formed the flank, you suffered 
enfilade and frontal artillery fire all the way, and 
the hundreds of machine guns captured testifies to 
the violence of the opposition from that source. 
Every evidence confirms the fact that the enemy 
suffered enormous casualties. He fought stub- 
bornly and well and for that reason your victory is 
the more creditable. You have taken in this battle 
over 7,000 prisoners and 200 field and heavy guns, 
thus bringing the total captures of the Canadian 
Corps since August 8 of this year to 28,000 pris- 
oners, 500 guns, over 3,000 machine guns, and a 
large amount of stores of all kinds. Even of 
greater importance than these captures stands the 
fact that you have wrested 69 towns and villages 
and over 175 square miles of French soil from the 
defiling Hun. In the short period of two months 
the Canadian Corps — to which were attached the 
32nd Division for the Battle of Amiens, the 4th 
and the 51st Divisions for the Battle of Arras, and 
the 11th Division for this Battle of Cambrai — has 
encountered and defeated decisively 47 German 
Divisions; that is, nearly a quarter of the total 
German forces on the Western front. The vic- 
tories you have achieved are the fruit of the iron 
discipline you accepted freely, and of the high 
standard you have reached in the technical knowl- 
edge of your arms, and the combined tactical 
employment of all your resources. I am proud of 
your deeds, and I want to record here my heart- 
felt thanks for your generous efforts, and my 
unbounded confidence in your ability to fight vic- 
toriously and crush the enemy wherever and when- 
ever you meet him. 

On October 9 the Corps were the first to enter Cambrai 
and took possession after a night attack of careful organi- 
zation and keen fighting. Meanwhile a Canadian and 
English force had gone further south and effected the 
capture of Le Cateau (October 10) after working through 
13 



186 CANADA AT WAE 

and taking a number of villages. The main Canadian body- 
then advanced under easier conditions but still battling 
steadily, shared the occupation of Douai with other British 
troops, captured a series of villages and on October 20 
entered Denain — Sir Arthur Currie having the Prince of 
Wales on his staff. It may be added here that H. R. H. 
V Prince Albert and Prince Arthur of Connaught were from 
J time to time attached to the Canadian GeneraPs Staff. 

Four days later the Corps fought a severe battle for the 
Scheldt Canal north of Valenciennes — after marching over 
thirty miles of indescribable roads — and then, with the 
British forces, attacked on a six-mile front south of that 
famous city. Within a week the Corps captured twenty- 
eight towns and villages in this region and its commissariat 
fed over 70,000 people freed from German bondage. 
Finally, on November 2 Canadian troops, supported by a 
British Army Corps, captured and entered Valenciennes. 
The advance then continued with the capture of a number 
of towns and villages, until on November 11 a final struggle 
was fought out for the possession of Mons which then fell 
to the Canadians and, on the day the Armistice was signed 
and the war ended, British troops from a far-distant 
Dominion entered the famous city from which, in August, 
1914, at the beginning of the war, British troops of the 
United Kingdom had been driven by the huge German war- 
machine. With the Canadians was a British Lancer Regi- 
ment which fought in that original battle. Out of Mons in 
the brief days of the Canadian occupation came a message 
from General Sir Arthur Currie to the Canadian people, 
which deserves to live in history : 

From the doubly historic battle-field of Mons, 
and on the eve of its departure for the Rhine, the 
Canadian Corps acknowledges, with a sense of 
deepest gratitude, your message sent on behalf 
of the people of Canada. We join with them in 
humble and grateful thanks to God for the glorious 
victory vouchsafed to our arms. Our hearts go out 



THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 187 

to those to whom there remains only the cherished 
memory of their loved and lost, sacrificed in the 
noblest cause for which men have died. Weary 
with work of destruction, we long for the time 
when we shall be homeward bound to take up again 
with a clearer conception of its responsibilities, 
our duties as citizens of the fairest land in all the 
world, our own beloved Canada. 

The War was practically over but there followed the 
march of Canadian and British and French and American 
troops to the Rhine, General Currie led a part of his troops 
into Germany and on December 4 they crossed the historic 
and long-hoped for German river and for a period occupied 
the University city of Bonn and the still greater city of 
Cologne; another portion remained at Mons for a time. 
In the spring the different Divisions gradually left Belgium 
and Germany and were shipped home from England. In 
this connection, as already indicated in the preceding nar- 
rative, it may be said that the Canadian Divisions were not 
always a unit in the fighting. One or two or three Divi- 
sions may have shared in any one incident dealt with — 
not necessarily all of them. As the town council of Mons 
put it in a proclamation issued at a memorable juncture: 
i ( rpjjg Third Canadian Division, at the price of many sacri- 
fices, penetrated the city at 3 o'clock in the morning, 
avenging thus by a brilliant success the retreat of 1914. 
Glory and gratitude to it." A Special Order, also, was 
issued by General Currie to his Corps which was enthusi- 
astic to a degree : 

During four long years, conscious of the 
righteousness of your cause, you have fought 
many battles and endured cruel hardships, and 
now your mighty efforts are rewarded ; your fallen 
comrades are avenged. You have demonstrated on 
the battle-field your superior courage and unfalter- 
ing energy. By the will of God you have won, won, 
won. Marching triumphantly through Belgium, 
you will be received everywhere as liberators, but 



188 CANADA AT WAR 

the kindness and generosity of the population must 
not cause any relaxation of your discipline or 
alertness. Your task is not yet completed, and you 
must remain what you are, the close-knitted army 
in grim, deadly earnest. It is essential that on the 
march and at the halt discipline must be of the 
highest standard. Beginning by the immortal 
stand at the Second Battle of Ypres, you befit- 
tingly closed, by the capture of Mons, your fighting 
record in which every battle you fought is a 
resplendent page of glory. 

During this long struggle the total casualties of the 
Canadian Corps were 216,146, in which the deaths num- 
bered 57,258 — 35,684 killed in action, 12,437 died of wounds 
and 4,057 died of disease, with 5,080 presumed dead or 
finally missing. The total of the wounded was 155,830; 
the troops who died in Canada and not included in the total 
casualties were 2,287. About 2,800 Canadians were taken 
prisoners during the War — most of them at St. Julien. 
Half as many Canadians died in 1918 of the influenza epi- 
demic as were killed at the Front by the Germans. As to 
the rest this great little army of the Empire distinguished 
itself in many ways apart from the courage and fighting 
skill which their Commander summed up in a cable to J. H. 
Woods, President of the Canadian Press Association: *'In 
the last two years of strenuous fighting it has never lost a 
gun, has never failed to take an objective and has never 
been driven from an inch of ground once consolidated, while 
its casualties among the rank and file bear the smallest 
percentage in proportion to its strength of all the British 
forces." Their initiative was shown in directions which 
may be briefly summarized* as follows : (1) They were the 
first to construct light railways behind the firing line, and 
to use this means of transportation in conveying troops, 
munitions and supplies to the trenches as well as in carry- 
ing wounded to the rear ; (2) they were the first to lay down 

* Condensed from an able review in the Toronto "News by F. D. L. Smith, 
September 10, 1918. 



THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 189 

plank roads in order to carry heavy trucks and guns 
through the quagmires of Flanders and France; (3) they 
were the first to substitute temporary, lightly-constructed 
waggon roads in place of the permanent highways m favour 
with the other Allies; (4) they were the first to originate 
trench raids for the purpose of breaking the enemy s 
morale, and obtaining necessary information regarding any 
opposing enemy forces; (5) they were the first to organize 
machine-gun batteries and to use machine guns m indirect 
fire -that is to say, against invisible objects; (6) they 
were the first to combat the disease known as trench-feet 
with any considerable success, and they invented the alkah 
bath to neutralize the poisonous effects of mustard gas; 
(7) they were the first of all the Allied armies to estabhsh 
a Dental Corps and to introduce a delousing plant to rid 
the soldiers' clothing of insects. 

In the Services, apart from Infantry, Canada had also a 
proud record. The most conspicuous was probably that of 
Aviation, in which a quite remarkable and largely indi- 
vidual place was won. Yet Canadians had no distinct Air 
organization, no centre for separate achievement and repu- 
tation, no Corps such as had won distinction for Australia 
in the East. They simply took to the Air as the Enghsh 
have done to the sea, and by individual effort, voluntary 
action and initiative swarmed into the British service until 
both the Eoyal Flying Corps and the Eoyal Naval Air 
Service recognized a peculiar aptitude in the splendid work 
rendered by Canadians while fighting side by side with their 
British brothers. The Canadian Army Corps was complete 
except in this one branch and there were plenty of aviators 
in the latter years of the War to form Canadian squad- 
rons, but for some reason or other Sir Sam Hughes did 
not approve, and though, after he ceased to be Mmister, 
much was done in Canada to encourage the Imperial enhst- 
ment of aviators and to facilitate Imperial construction of 
machines and training of men, nothing was done m the 



190 CANADA AT WAR 

organization of a Corps. It was estimated at the end of 
1917 that 1,000 Canadians had joined the E. N. A. S., and 
3,000 the R. F. C. — as officers and pilots, mechanicians and 
assistants. An official statement in London on August 11 
of that year was that 299 officers and 409 privates coming to 
England in the Canadian forces had been granted commis- 
sions in the R. F. C, with 93 others of Canadian birth ; that 
346 officers joined the R. N. A. S. in Canada under arrange- 
ments organized by Admiral Kingsmill, while 66 others had 
joined this service and been transferred to the Flying 
Corps; that 80 members of the Canadian Military forces 
had been granted commissions in the Naval Air Service — 
a total of 1,293 officers. The total number of Canadians 
joining the R. N. A. S. and the Royal Flying Corps and the 
Royal Air Force, into which they were absorbed, was 12,902. 
In the individual success attained the central figure was 
Fl.-Lieut. and, eventually, Lieut.-Colonel William Avery 
Bishop, who, within a few months in 1917-18, won the V. C. 
and D. S. 0. and Bar, the M. C. and D. F. C. A son of 
Owen Sound, in Ontario, his career was to Canada what 
that of Alfred Ball was to England or Guynemer to France 
or Richthofen to Germany. Hobbs, Mulock, Hallam, 
Knight, Leckie, Collishaw, Hervey, Fall, Fisher, Shearman, 
Rosevear, Hamilton Gault of the Princess Patricia's — 
after he had lost a leg on Infantry service — Maclaren, 
Anderson, were other names in the galaxy of Canadian 
Aviation fame. As to the Cavalry Brigade a volume of the 
most thrilling character might be written. In 1918 they 
were greatly distinguished at the River Luce during the 
three first days of the Somme battle, in the Cambrai offen- 
sive they lived again the best traditions of the British 
Army. Canadian armoured cars, and Tanks manned by 
Canadian troops, did splendid work, while the record of the 
machine-gun sections was equal to the best on the Allied 
front — and no greater praise could be given. The Sif ton, 
Borden, Eaton and Yukon Batteries formed a great fight- 
ing brigade in the last year of the War. Of the Canadian 



THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 191 

Artillery in general under Major-General E. W. B. Morri- 
son many and high tributes were paid during all the years 
of the War. 

The Forestry battalions were conspicuous for good work 
in England and France and close up to the Front, with the 
personality of Brig.-Gen. Alex McDougall as a great factor 
in their success. In England they provided the vital war- 
force of 300,000 tons of sawn lumber a year and 5,000,000 
tons of mining timber cut in one period of 12 months. 
Lord Derby in a letter to Sir Edward Kemp stated in the 
spring of 1918 that: ''It is largely due to the operations 
of the units of this Corps in France that we have practi- 
cally stopped the shipment of British-grown timber to 
France, thus saving cross-channel tonnage, while we are 
also enabled to save the shipment of foreign timber by 
having the production of the Corps in England to meet the 
various national demands." In July of this year it was 
stated that 40 of these Forestry Companies were then work- 
ing in Great Britain and 60 in France with a total of 30,000 
men employed and 100,000,000 feet of lumber delivered 
to the authorities in France up to date. Equally effective 
was the splendid Transport system between Canada and 
England as initiated by Sir A. H. Harris, late of the C. P. R. 
and managed by him throughout the War; so with the 
Canadian Railway troops who laid lines of track right up 
to or behind the trenches and, when the period of moving 
battles came, provided the light and rapidly constructed 
transport systems by which the Canadians, and in some 
cases the British soldiers and the French, retired or 
advanced. At times they threw down their tools to fight 
the approaching enemy — as in the first Cambrai struggle 
and in the 1918 attack on the Somme. 

Much might be said of the Engineers with their multi- 
tude of bridges — pontoon, trestle, heavy pontoon and 
heavy steel — erected under every trying condition of 
haste and enemy fire, of rush materials and supplies, 
crowds of wounded men, ever-moving masses of artillery 



192 CANADA AT WAR 

and troops. The Canadian victory of Bourlon Wood was 
essentially an Engineers' battle and it depended upon the 
speed and the manner in which the crossings of the Canal 
dn Nord were provided. The Medical Corps, Hospital sur- 
geons and nurses, the C. A. M. C, as it was technically 
termed, was in a class by itself. The heroism of Canadian 
nurses was amply proved in the loss of the Llandovery 
Castle, in the bombardment of Staples Hospital, in the 
tremendous work and strain of a thousand battles, and so 
with the physicians in a myriad of cases and during many 
conflicts. As to skill, No. I General Hospital on the French 
Coast and No. Ill (McGill) at Boulogne made a specialty 
of broken or injured femur bones, while the avoidance of 
all epidemics or plagues, the treatments for typhoid and 
trench fever, anti-tetanus inoculation, the general develop- 
ment of sanitation, chlorination, and bacteriological science 
were elements of great importance in the life of the Corps. 
So with the splendid Ambulance system and its gallant 
stretcher-bearers subject, like the doctors, to constant 
enemy fire and frequent casualties. The Chaplain Service 
was brave, sympathetic and a powerful influence for cheer 
and good-feeling. It controlled and guided the entertain- 
ment and recreation programme for the whole Corps, 
assisted by the Y. M. C. A., Salvation Army and other 
organizations. Food and cigarette canteens, coffee stalls, 
athletics, games and matches were amongst the matters 
handled, besides religious services and funerals. Finan- 
cially, between 1915 and March 31, 1918, the Service 
received $3,450,091 and expended $3,122,153; during three 
weeks' operations around Passchendaele the distribution 
included li/^ tons of coffee, 1^ tons of sugar, 2,500 tins 
of milk, 15,000 packages of biscuits, 100,000 packages of 
cigarettes, 60,000 sheets of paper and 1,000 newspapers, etc. 
In Dentistry the Canadian Army Dental Corps lead the 
way, and Sir Auckland Geddes stated to the British Dental 
Association during May, 1918, that "the whole of the Brit- 
ish forces have only a little more than twice the number 



THE YEAR OF VICTORY — 1918 193 

of dentists belonging to the Canadian Army Dental Corps, 
while as to organization and administration the inferiority 
is equally manifest to those who are familiar with the 
details/* Colonel J. A. Armstrong, c.m.g., was Director- 
General of the Corps and the valne of its work to the health 
and stamina and morale of the troops was very great. The 
Canadian Salvage Corps was another institution of great 
value and its duty was to collect and conserve all dis- 
carded articles, with a view to their return to military stores 
and for disposal to the best advantage if unserviceable. 
In nine months ending February 28, 1918, $211,000 was 
saved in this way. Canadian Labour Battalions were also 
organized for general construction and repair work behind 
the lines with, also, availability for fighting in an emer- 
gency. It may be added that the cemeteries for those Cana- 
dians who passed away and out from this terrible cruci- 
ble of war, scattered as they were all over the war area of 
France, were most religiously and carefully attended to 
with each man's name or number, rank or unit and date of 
death wherever possible. They were well kept and often 
beautifully decorated; the exact spot where every Cana- 
dian in France or Flanders lay buried was recorded in three 
official places. Let the words of E. J. C. Stead of Calgary 
provide a fitting farewell to the Canadian dead in these 
many battles and to this memorable page in Canadian 
history : 

He saw not where his path should lead, 
Nor sought a path to suit his will; 

He saw a nation in her need; 

He heard the cause of Honour plead; 

He heard the call, he gave it heed. 
And now he sleeps in Flanders. 

Yet let this ray of light remain. 

Though darkness cut him from our view; 

We know the sacrifice, the pain — 

We cannot feel our faith in vain — 

We know the loss, but not the gain 
Of those who sleep in Flanders. 



CHAPTEK XI 
MUNITIONS OF WAE 

The making of Munitions was, in 1914, a special branch 
of a great industry — that of preparedness for war. Ger- 
many had enormous quantities ready for immediate use ; its 
vast stores of cannon, big guns, artillery of every size and 
shape and degree and power required proportionate sup- 
plies of ammunition, shells, power, etc. Krupp's was the 
greatest of its national industries for years before the War ; 
what were the subsidiary industries which provided food 
for all this artillery seemed to be unknown to the world. 
In Britain and Eussia, when the crisis came, the supplies of 
guns and ammunition were equally and shamefully low. 
Just as the first British Army had four macjiine guns to 
the battalion where the Germans had fifteen or more, so 
Mr. Lloyd George, when he took hold of the new Munitions 
Department of Great Britain seven months afterwards, 
found that 2,500 high explosive shells daily were being 
turned out against 250,000 daily by the Germans.* Even 
France, in close touch with the seat of danger, was short 
of shells and big guns. 

Canada's condition was excusable in the light of these 
facts and it was one of absolute negation at the beginning. 
There were no munitions made in the country and there 
never had been any of the slightest importance; the near- 
est and only approach to artillery was the Eoss Eifle fac- 
tory at Quebec and some slight production at the Dominion 
Arsenal there. At the same time the country was well 

* Speech in Parliament on December 20, 1915. During these months, aa in 
preceding years. Gen. Sir S. B. Von Donop, whom Lord Haldane, when Secre- 
tary of War, had described as " unrivalled in his technical knowledge," was 
Master-Genera,! of the Ordnance. His name and nationality are obvioug, 



MUNITIONS OF WAE 195 

suited for such an industry. Great iron and steel interests 
had obtained a footing, had received Government support 
in the way of bonuses on their production, had been pro- 
vided with much private capital running up to 100 millions. 
In Nova Scotia the N. S. Steel and Coal Co. at New Glas- 
gow and the Dominion Steel Corporation at Sydney had 
seven blast furnaces between them, with a daily capacity 
of 1,930 tons ; eighteen open-hearth furnaces and two 15-ton 
Bessemer converters; in Ontario the Steel Company of 
Canada, with furnaces at Midland, the Canada Furnace 
Co., with furnaces at Port Colborne, the Standard Iron 
Co., with furnaces at Deseronto, had amongst them seven 
blast furnaces with a daily capacity of 900 tons. The 
greater part of the ore and all of the fuel for these fur- 
naces were imported and they provided a steel-making 
capacity of about 350,000 tons per year. In the Lake 
Superior district there were the Algoma Steel Corporation 
with furnaces at Sault Ste. Marie, and the Atikokan Iron 
Co., with furnaces at Port Arthur, or four blast furnaces, 
with a capacity of 1,050 tons per day, five steel furnaces 
and two Bessemer converters. Altogether Canada had 
twenty-two blast furnaces with a paper capacity of 
1,500,000 tons per year and a production, in 1914, of steel 
ingots and castings totalling 694,447 tons. Electric smelt- 
ing — the making of ferro-products or steel in electric 
furnaces — was located at Buckingham in Quebec, Welland, 
Sault Ste. Marie, Toronto and Belleville in Ontario. 

It cannot be said that conditions in this industry were 
prosperous in Canada during 1914, or even after the War 
had begun, and Germany, one of the great international 
factors in iron and steel, with an export trade in those 
products of about 300 million dollars a year, had been elim- 
inated. As a matter of fact, and despite vast resources of 
coal and iron in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, or in the 
United States close to the Canadian Lake Superior region, 
the Canadian industry was producing 50 per cent, less than 



196 CANADA AT WAR 

it did ten years before, while the country was importing 
250 per cent, more and had been building railways in every 
direction. Temporarily, indeed, concerns such as the 
Dominion Iron and Steel at Sydney and the Nova Scotia 
Company at New Glasgow had shut down part of their 
plants while the Sault Company was running on half time. 
At this point, two things happened. It was found (1) that 
large steel supplies for railways, hitherto obtained in Ger- 
many, would have to be purchased in Canada, or in Great 
Britain, or the United States; and (2) Colonel Hughes, 
Minister of Militia, called a meeting (September 2, 1914) 
in the Arsenal at Quebec to discuss the making of muni- 
tions and other war supplies into which iron and steel 
largely entered. The Minister had, already, drawn the 
attention of the British War Office to what he believed to 
be Canada's capacity in this respect and he now hoped to 
lay the basis for a large development. It cannot be said 
that the attendance at his meeting was such as the matter 
deserved but it was sufficient and a Canadian Shell Com- 
mittee was at once appointed and composed, eventually, of 
Colonel Alex. Bertram, of John Bertram & Sons, Dundas 
(Chairman), Thos. Cantley, General Manager, N. S. Steel 
and Coal Co., New Glasgow, George W. Watts of the Can- 
adian General Electric Co., Toronto, and E. Carnegie of 
the Welland Electric Steel and Metals Co., representing the 
manufacturers ; Col. Thomas Benson, Master-General of the 
Ordnance, Col. C. Greville-Harston, Chief Inspector of 
Arms and Ammunition, J. W. Borden and Lieut.-Col. F. D. 
Latf erty. Superintendent of the Dominion Arsenal, repre- 
senting the Department. David Carnegie of London, Eng- 
land, was added to the Committee as Ordnance Adviser and 
representative of the British War Office. 

Practically no shells had yet been made in Canada but 
within four months of this meeting it was estimated that 
fifty Canadian manufacturers, large and small, were engaged 
in making shells for the British Government and it was 



MUNITIONS OF WAR 197 

stated that nearly all of the Canadian steel companies had 
put in the plant necessary for the business, while all 
materials in use were the product of Canadian firms. The 
C. P. E., also, devoted its Angus shops at Montreal to this 
work and, within a few months, 10,000 men were busy there 
making munitions; later on the G. T. E. shops at Trans- 
cona were partially turned into a Munition factory. By 
March 12, 1915, a return presented to the Commons showed 
200 factories engaged in the manufacture of shells with a 
copper driving band as the only component part not yet 
made in Canada. The contracts in hand were said to total 
$80,000,000. The first British contract had been for 200,000 
shrapnel shells (empty) but the rapidity with which the 
manufacturers converted their factories to new uses con- 
vinced the Minister that complete, filled and fixed ammu- 
nition should be attempted — including shells, brass cart- 
ridge cases, primers, clips, cordite, powder, pellets and 
fuses. Within a few months all of these products, except 
fuses, were underway and, eventually, under successful 
construction. 

According to a Eeport from the Shell Committee pre- 
sented to Parliament by the Premier, on April 15, 1915, 
the Executive work had been entrusted to the Chairman, 
who reported weekly to the Minister of Militia. The Com- 
mittee put before the War Office (through Mr. Carnegie) 
the possibilities of Canadian work in this connection; it 
investigated supplies of nitro-cellulose powder sent to Brit- 
ain from the United States and certain supplies of rifles 
and ammunition for Eussia; with the Minister it aided in 
the utilization of by-products from the coke ovens of the 
Dominion Iron and Steel Co. at Sydney, in the making of 
a new high explosive called Tri-nitro-toluol. British orders 
came in steadily and as the estimated profits on shrapnel, 
according to the N. Y. Wall Street Journal, ran from 25 
to 40 per cent., there was every encouragement to operate. 
Orders were placed in the West as well as the East — Win- 



198 CANADA AT WAR 

nipeg and Vancouver and Victoria shared in the awards, 
as well as Toronto and Montreal. An $80,000,000 contract 
was obtained from Eussia by the Canada Car and Foundry 
Co. of Montreal, and it included 5,000,000 shrapnel and 
howitzer shells with detailed conditions which afterwards 
were found very difficult to meet. Of this order $52,000,000 
was at once sub-let in the United States; the balance was 
kept for Canadian concerns. 

By the middle of 1915 British orders had been placed by 
the Shell Committee for 9,000,000 shells in number with 
subsidiary orders for 100,000 cartridge cases, a mmaber of 
fuses, 2,000,000 primers and 1,000,000 friction tubes. 
Before awarding a contract, careful investigation was made 
as to the ability of the firm to carry out the particular 
work assigned to it. If there was any doubt as to the plant 
being suitable a competent Inspector was sent to report 
upon the condition of the factory. It was officially stated 
at this time that 130 firms, from Halifax to Vancouver, 
were engaged in the work of machining and assembling 
shells. Others were occupied in the manufacture of blanks, 
bullets, disks, cartridge cases, buck-shot, primers, tubes, tin 
cups for shrapnel, grub screws, sockets and plugs, steel base 
plates and boxes. Altogether no less than 247 factories 
were engaged in this work, in 78 cities and towns, and giv- 
ing employment to between 60,000 and 70,000 artisans, with 
a total weekly wage-bill of $1,000,000. As a matter of fact 
Canada had delivered 250,000 shells in England before Brit- 
ish factories, outside of Government arsenals, had got to 
work there ; incidentally it may be said that the Nova Scotia 
Steel and Coal Co. was the first in Canada to supply steel 
shell and shrapnel forgings. On June 11 Sir Eobert Bor- 
den found it necessary to issue this statement as to shell 
contracts and the work of the Committee: *'So far as pur- 
chases in Canada (other than those allotted to the Com- 
mittee) by the British or Allied Governments are concerned 
they are made by representatives appointed by such Gov- 



MUNITIONS OF WAK 199 

ernments without reference to the Government of Canada, 
which has no control over such matters and could not prop- 
erly interfere therein. The Grovernment of Canada has 
absolutely nothing whatever to do with purchases in the 
United States by the British or Allied Governments ; it has 
no control over them and could not interfere with them.'* 

Complaints commenced to be heard at this time as to 
allotment, or non-allotment, of contracts to small but reli- 
able firms — a matter of more or less frequent discussion 
throughout the year. On June 12 the Minister of Militia 
stated to the press, in a characteristic interview, that: 
^'The Shell Committee can place only such orders as it 
receives from the British authorities ; it cannot go further. 
Moreover, I want to say, emphatically, that those manufac- 
turers who, when first appealed to on patriotic grounds, 
equipped their premises and went into making shells, are 
entitled to the first orders. Concerns which have entered 
the field only when they saw there was money in it, but who, 
at first, held back and did nothing, are not entitled to any 
particular preference. We do not intend, either, to stand 
for any faking or farming out of contracts. Before a con- 
tract is made the Committee must be satisfied as to the men 
behind the industry and their ability to do the work. ' ' There 
were queries, also, as to why larger British orders, actually 
and proportionately, were given the United States than to 
Canada and the obvious answer was that both Britain and 
the Allies obtained financial privileges in New York which 
Canada did not then give them — to any large extent — 
banking credits and the purchase of securities upon a scale 
which Canadian resources did not seem to warrant. The 
Government did what was possible and, up to this time, 
had advanced $25,000,000 to finance purchases by the Brit- 
ish, French and Eussian Governments. 

On June 22, 1915, Lord Curzon stated in the House of 
Lords that Canadian munition makers were not supplying 
complete shells and that deliveries from Canada were slow. 



200 CANADA AT WAR 

Fred. NichoUs of the Canadian General Electric Co., Tor- 
onto, replied on June 25, in the press, with the statement 
that early British orders had been too small to warrant 
serious investment in suitable machinery; that when the 
orders did come, in any large form, it was almost impos- 
sible to get machinery in the United States ; that the War 
Office then seemed to have no real knowledge of the situa- 
tion: "I, personally, forwarded a communication on Octo- 
ber 7, 1914, to the War Office offering to invest two or three 
million dollars in a manufacturing plant for quick pro- 
duction, provided we received an order for one million 
shells, with the expectation that on receipt of this order 
we could immediately purchase the machinery, on which 
we had an option, and have been in a position to produce 
about 15,000 to 20,000 shells, daily, by April or May last, 
but I received an official letter from the War Office (Novem- 
ber 13, 1914) advising me that no further supplies of 
ammunition were required and that I would not be war- 
ranted in proceeding to England to negotiate for a 
contract. ' ' 

It seems clear from this experience of Mr. Nicholls and 
from similar incidents told by W. W. Butler of the Canada 
Car Co. and others, that either the War Office (or rather 
the Ordnance Department under General Von Donop) was 
still uncertain at the close of 1914 as to requirements at 
the Front or was doubtful of Canada's capabilities in the 
matter. Whatever the original difficulty the energetic Min- 
ister of Militia in Canada and changes in Britain which 
followed the accession of Mr. Lloyd George to the Ministry 
of Munitions, worked a revolution in the production of both 
countries. At the end of June, 1915, however, despite large 
preliminary production, matters in Canada were still in con- 
fusion with no new orders in sight, with not sufficient in 
hand to keep plants going even for incomplete shells ; there 
also was increasing evidence that what the War Office must 
have under the new conditions was fixed or complete ammu- 



MUNITIONS OF WAE 201 

nitijon. Estimates made on July 2 showed that $400,000,000 
of orders, from all sources, for war equipment, supplies, 
material, etc. — not munitions alone — had been given Can- 
ada to date. On July 6 Senator Lougheed, Acting Min- 
ister of Militia, issued a statement that: "The situation 
in Great Britain has changed, and the industries of that 
country are in a position to turn out empty shells as rapidly 
as they can be converted into fixed ammunition for use at 
the Front. The British Government has advised the Shell 
Committee that they want fixed ammunition instead of 
empty shells, and do not require any more empty shells at 
present." 

Following this (July 11) a number of manufacturers, 
representing nine of the leading firms in Canada (Canadian 
General Electric, Massey-Harris, Gurney, etc.), waited 
upon the Shell Committee at Ottawa and stated that as 
Great Britain was suffering from lack of high explosive 
shells, those present would undertake to invest large sums 
in machinery and equipment for producing shells in almost 
any quantities desired. It was also announced at this time 
that D. A. Thomas, m.p. (afterwards created Lord 
Ehondda), had been appointed by the British Government 
to visit Canada and re-arrange matters. Speaking in the 
British Commons (June 23) Mr. Lloyd George, the new 
Minister of Munitions, explained that the innumerable 
offers to supply shells, received from the United States and 
Canada, made this necessary. As to the duties of Mr. 
Thomas: "He will represent and exercise functions, on 
behalf of the Munitions Department, in Canada and the 
United States, and will be given full authority to discharge 
the responsible duties with which he is entrusted. Mr. 
Thomas will co-operate with the representatives of the 
Government, both in Canada and the United States of 
America. There is not the slightest idea of superseding 
the existing agencies there. They have worked admirably. 
14 



202 CANADA AT WAR 

They have saved this country, I believe, millions of 
money. ' ' 

During his visit to Canada in July and August Mr. 
Thomas declared that Canada had done wonders in the 
creation of 150 arsenals or munition factories in about a 
year and filling, or preparing to fill, British orders of 250 
millions; he conferred with Canadian manufacturers and 
financiers with a view to the making of heavy guns in the 
Dominion, but the arrangements afterwards fell through; 
he declared that if Canada would complete orders expedi- 
tiously the British Government would guarantee it a large 
share of future business but added that, so far, the cost 
of shells had been greater in Canada than in other com- 
petitive centres and the delivery slow. By the autumn 
of 1915 329 firms and 90,000 skilled workmen- were employed 
in this industry with $500,000,000 worth of orders placed, 
while Sir Sam Hughes stated, in Toronto on October 25, 
that 360 million pounds of steel had been turned into shells 
in Canada to date. Following the reports made by Mr. 
Thomas arrangements were completed at this time between 
the Dominion and British Governments, by which the Shell 
Committee — described by Mr. Thomas Cantley as "prob- 
ably the biggest business in the Empire" — was to be 
merged into a new body called the Imperial Munitions 
Board. On November 29, accordingly, the resignation of 
the Canadian Shell Committee was announced at Ottawa 
with the appointment of the new Board as a purely British 
organization. Of it Sir Sam Hughes was appointed Hon. 
President; J. W. Flavelle, the well-known manufacturer 
and financier of Toronto, was Chairman with executive and 
administrative powers; Major-General Alex. Bertram was 
Deputy Chairman. The other members were Col. David 
Carnegie of London and Ottawa, G. H. Dawson, Victoria, 
Charles B. Gordon, Montreal, J. A. Vallaincourt, President 
of La Banque d'Hochelaga, Montreal, and E. R. "Wood, Tor- 
onto. F. Perry, a South African mining expert and one- 



MUNITIONS OF WAR 203 

time Colonial Office official, was added a little later to act 
as intermediary between the British Minister and the 
Board. 

It was semi-officially announced at this time (1) that 
shells could now be successfully and profitably manufac- 
tured in Canada and that, instead of holding back, there 
was a keen competition on the part of manufacturers to 
secure contracts; (2) that the volume of orders placed in 
Canada had grown at a very rapid rate, and the output 
both of shell cases and component parts had increased so 
largely as to require a more highly oganized department 
to ensure efficient co-ordination and prompt deliveries; (3) 
that it was proper this Committee should contain an 
infusion of steel manufacturers whose advice and experi- 
ence were necessary to the development of the new indus- 
try; (4) that in the short space of 14 months the Shell 
Committee, with the active encouragement and support of 
General Sir Sam Hughes, had developed the largest indus- 
try in the whole of the Dominion; (5) that it had been the 
means, also, of bringing into being certain important indus- 
tries, subsidiary to shell-making, which would have a 
permanent effect in developing the resources of the 
country. 

Electric refining of zinc, copper refining, the making of 
brass and manufacture of explosives such as nitro-cellulose, 
tri-nitro-toluol and sabulite were amongst the new indus- 
tries thus established. At the close of 1915 the monthly 
output was over one million shells valued at 30 million 
dollars; orders had been received for 22,800,000 shells of 
which 2,000,000 fixed and 6,000,000 empty shells had been 
shipped ; there were 422 munition plans at work while the 
value of munitions and war material up to the close of 
1914 had been $28,164 and of 1915 $57,213,688. For the 
fiscal year ending March 31, 1916, the total of manufactured 
exports from Canada was 250 millions or nearly four times 
more than it was in 1914. The production must have 



204 CANADA AT WAR 

greatly grown in the next six months as the total manu- 
factured exports for the year ending September 30 was 
361 millions. In other words Canada was shipping, near 
the close of 1916, 40 millions a month of manufactured goods 
in comparison with a little over 5 millions a month before 
the War. Obviously a large and important munition indus- 
try was in effective operation and the seed planted by Sir 
Sam Hughes at the meeting late in 1914 had grown to a 
great tree of many branches — with an export of munitions 
and war products finally found to total $296,505,257 for the 
year ending December 31. 

What the Minister had sown the Shell Committee had 
watered and the Imperial Munitions Board cultivated. In 
all these cases, and no matter what the mistakes, or delays, 
or personal controversies, or political charges, there can 
be no doubt that good work was done. There was lethargy 
to overcome — a sort of inertia — which Canadian manu- 
facturers were not alone in showing when home demands 
were considerable and prices good and the local market 
carefully protected ; there was a widespread expectation at 
first that the War would not last six months and that any 
expenditure of time, money and labour in obtaining plant 
and machinery for the making of shells would be either 
wasted or profitless; there was, of course, absolute ignor- 
ance as to many phases of an industry which took time to 
win its place on Canadian soil. These preliminary elements 
of difficulty General Hughes overcame and the men he sur- 
rounded himself with put their plants, as well as their per- 
sonal influence and exertions, at his disposal. They made 
considerable profits in the end ; it was at first quite doubtful 
what the outcome eventually would be. Thomas Cantley 
of the N. S. Steel and Coal Co. was particularly alert and 
his Company reaped large advantages. Technically, it may 
not have been desirable for the Commission to grant large 
contracts to its own members ; practically, it was the only 
way to get things going; once the ball was started rolling 



MUNITIONS OF WAR 205 

it went over obstacles with greater ease than had been 
expected and prolongation of the War soon made large 
profits possible and a fair proportion of them legitimate. 
Then, the lethargy, which had been steadily dissipating, van- 
ished entirely, every kind of person wanted to make shells, 
every machine shop desired to be a factory, every one with 
buildings or machinery which could be utilized in this con- 
nection, and many who had nothing better to offer than 
ambition to turn a profitable corner, urged the Commission 
and the Minister and the Government to give them 
contracts. 

Many difficulties had developed as the months passed and 
may be summarized here. An initial obstacle in the War 
Office's objection to Canadian basic steel as a substitute for 
acid steel in making shells had been overcome; factories 
and machinery and investment were, at first, organized for 
the making of empty shells; then the British Government 
commenced speeding up its own operations and it was pres- 
ently announced that loaded shells must be supplied by 
Canada; then the making of high explosive shells was 
undertaken and still more changes in the industry required ; 
then trouble arose over the making of fuses and the fact 
that the machinery for that purpose had long since been 
bought up and ordered for months ahead in the United 
States. In this latter connection the Shell Committee made 
a contract in June, 1915, with the International Arms and 
Fuse Co. and the American Ammunition Co. for the pur- 
chase of 2,500,000 fuses and this was ratified by Colonel 
Hughes, Minister of Militia, on behalf of the British Gov- 
ernment under powers previously given. A multitude of 
other contracts had been given during these years and 
myriads of applications for contracts handled by the Com- 
mittee or referred to them by the Minister. In the House 
of Commons on March 28, however, G. W. Kyte (Liberal) 
made a long statement charging that this particular con- 
tract involved large and improper conunissions to certain 



306 CANADA AT WAR 

American promoters — B. F. Yoakmn, E. W. Bassick and 
E. B. Caldwell — and that J. Wesley Allison, a close friend 
of the Minister of Militia, was a financial go-between in 
this affair and a beneficiary in these commissions. It was 
a long story bnt this is a sufficient summary. No direct 
charge was made against General Hughes but there were 
plenty of indirect charges or insinuations in succeeding 
party speeches and journalistic comments. Sir Eobert 
Borden at once cabled the Minister to come back from Eng- 
land and announced a Eoyal Commission of Inquiry com- 
posed of Chief Justice Sir W. E. Meredith and Mr. Justice 
L. P. Duff. The ensuing investigation was long and dreary 
in detail and much of the evidence sordid and unpleasant in 
character. The final Eeport of the Commissioners was sub- 
mitted on July 20. In this document, after dealing with 
the history of the matter, the Commissioners pointed out 
the practical impossibility at that time of obtaining or mak- 
ing these fuses in Canada ; stated that they found no fault 
with the terms of the contract in question or the price of 
the time fuses, though they found the price of the graze 
fuses excessive; dealt with the Allison charges and com- 
mission payments, or orders, to him of $195,000 and his 
evidence generally. The summary on this important point 
was as follows: 

We are compelled to the conclusion that Alli- 
son's explanation cannot be accepted, and to find 
that, while professing to be acting as the friend 
of General Hughes and to be doing what he did 
solely out of friendship for him, and without any 
expectation or intention of receiving any remun- 
eration for his services, Allison was instrumental 
in bringing about a contract in which, through his 
agreement with Yoakum of February, 1915, he was 
pecuniarily interested, with the knowledge that he 
would be entitled to share equally with Yoakum 
in any benefit that Yoakum might receive, either 
by way of commission or otherwise. 



MUNITIONS OF WAR 207 

As to the Minister: "General Hughes had nothing to do 
with the making of the (Allison- Yoakum) contract or with 
the request that Colonel Carnegie made to Allison; and 
indeed, so far as appears from the evidence, knew nothing 
about the transaction being entered into or contemplated." 
It was obvious in the whole document that the Commission- 
ers did not believe the Minister to have had any improper 
knowledge of, or part in, this contract matter. None-the- 
less it was an unpleasant incident and brought into a full 
glare of publicity the inevitable errors and weaknesses of 
inexperienced men dealing with great new problems, con- 
trolling a business equal to the largest on the continent, 
managing a vast number of intricate transactions which 
involved the total expenditure of hundreds of millions of 
money. That this investigation could pass with no reflec- 
tion on the personal honesty of the members of the Shell 
Commission or of the Minister of Militia was a conspicu- 
ous outcome of the inquiry. Eliminating the public dis- 
cussion of the charges and the sordidness interjected by 
outside financial promoters, commission seekers and 
would-be corruptionists, there remained a most interest- 
ing story of difficulties overcome in Canada and with the 
War Office and Canadians individually; of vital and hur- 
ried demands met under conditions of strain and stress; 
of a great business established and carried on with obvious 
success and conspicuous results by a group of men who 
were new to the game, who learned wisdom by their mis- 
takes, and turned occasional defeat into final victory. 

Another chapter had opened in the creation of the Imperial 
Munitions Board. Its policy at first was to purchase 
directly the raw materials of every description which were 
required and these were passed on from one contractor to 
another, each being paid successively for his labour. This 
plan saved the contractor large investments of capital 
otherwise necessary to produce complete shells and, at the 
same time, ensured a proper distribution of the materials 



208 CANADA AT WAR 

available so that the maximum production might be secured. 
Contractors were given the opportunity to pay for their 
necessary investment of capital through the profits derived 
from their contracts. Subsequently the business was placed 
upon a competitive basis. The operations of the Board 
therefore covered every kind of war material and its offi- 
cials explored and made available for war purposes natural 
resources hitherto undeveloped. Industries new to Canada 
were established and, in collaboration between the Board 
and the Dominion Department of Mines, an extensive pro- 
duction of alloys to be used in the manufacture of high- 
speed cutting tools was organized, while the development 
of an explosive and propellant industry proved an import- 
ant achievement. 

In 1917 shipbuilding for the Canadian Government was 
undertaken by the Board upon a large scale and contracts 
eventually were let up to a value of $70,000,000 with a 
shipping tonnage of 360,000; a national plant was also 
established, with Imperial money, for the construction of 
aeroplanes for training purposes and of these 2,500 or more 
were produced, while bombing planes were, later on, made 
for the United States Navy; the Board also acted as gen- 
eral and exclusive purchasing agent on behalf of the War 
Office, the Admiralty, the British Timber Comptroller, the 
British Department of Aeronautics and Ministry of Muni- 
tions and as agent for the United States Ordnance Depart- 
ment in arranging contracts for munitions and supplies. 
In its organization the Board was presided over by Sir 
J. W. Flavelle — created in 1917 a Baronet for his Imperial 
War services — and his keen business and financial capacity 
pervaded all sections of the large business which steadily 
grew as the War demands increased. There were various 
important branches of work controlled by the Board, such 
as the Purchasing and Steel Department and that of Explos- 
ives which operated three national plants at Trenton, Ren- 
frew and Nobel producing nitro-cellulose, cordite and 



MUNITIONS OF WAE 209 

T. N. T. with acid plants in addition, and one producing 
acetone, etc.; also Forging, Aviation, Fuse, Timber and 
Engineering Departments. 

Inspections was carried on by a British officer responsible 
to the Director General of Inspection in Great Britain and 
the administrative staff included about 1,500 men and 
women; from 250,000 to 300,000 workers were employed 
including 12,000 women. Meanwhile the production of 
munitions and war material under these auspices had been 
progressing by leaps and bounds and the export of 1914- 
15-16, already quoted, and totalling for that period $353,- 
748,109 had become in the calendar year 1917 $388,213,553, 
in 1918 $260,711,751, and for the whole period of the War 
had totalled $1,002,672,413. During the last six months of 
the War 15 per cent, of the total expenditure of the 
Imperial Ministry of Munitions was incurred in Canada; 
the Dominion had by that time been able to make nearly 
every type of shell from the 18-pounder to the 9.2 inch 
— in the former case reaching an output of shrapnel in the 
last six months of 1918 which ran to 55 per cent, of the 
British requirements. Such a record in so few years was 
an achievement of no mean nature. 



CHAPTER XII 
WAE ECONOMICS AND CONDITION'S IN CANADA 

At the beginning of the War Canada was a debtor nation 
as it had been during all its national career and in almost 
every phase of its corporate life ; it nearly always had bought 
more than it sold or imported more than its people could 
pay for in exports. At the close of the War it was lending 
money and shipping more products abroad than were 
imported. In the four years ending March 31, 1914, the 
total exports had been $1,484,743,600 and the imports 
$2,318,643,002; in the four-year period of 1914^-18 the 
exports were $4,335,549,319 and the imports $2,965,497,837. 
A change in eight years from a four-year excess of 
$870,000,000 in imports to a four-year excess of 
$1,370,000,000 in exports was an extraordinary economic 
record and trade revolution. In this process the solidity 
of the British financial system had afforded strong support, 
the safety of the seas had given a background without 
which the change would have been impossible, the war pro- 
duction of the period had been a conspicuous element, the 
financial capacity of Sir Thomas White a considerable 
factor. 

When the situation developed on July 28, 1914, into 
a world-wide and momentary panic of fear as to the 
incalculable consequences, the immense unknown forces 
of destruction about to be let loose, the Stock Exchanges 
of Canada felt the same influences which affected those of 
Europe and the United States. Toronto, Montreal and 
other centres closed their Exchanges and did not fully 
reopen them during 1914; the inclination toward panic in 
prices was checked though the cessation of sales created 
stagnation; individuals remained for days and in some 

[210] 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 211 

cases for weeks afraid to spend a dollar or even to keep 
their money in Banks ; some financial institutions reflected 
this panicky and natural feeling of not knowing what dread- 
ful thing was going to happen next, while nation after 
nation was declaring war and millions of armed men were 
moving to unknown destinations and destructive work; 
prices of food advanced and wages, salaries, incomes, were 
cut in many directions. The Banks found that deposits 
were affected by the situation in a decrease during the first 
month of $20,000,000. It was not much on a total of 
$1,000,000,000 but it had a depressing influence for a time 
though in the end it was felt to have really proved — in its 
small proportions — a wide popular confidence in the 
Banks. As a matter of fact in the succeeding four 
years of war these deposits increased from a total of 
$1,010,000,000 on December 31, 1914, to $1,669,000,000 at 
the close of 1918; the total Banking assets from 
$1,555,000,000 to $2,689,000,000. 

A serious fact in the first few days of uncertainty and 
war peril was the demand for gold in place of Bank or even 
Dominion Government notes. Mr. White, as Minister of 
Finance, heard the representatives of the bankers, and 
before this very natural tendency could take a form dan- 
gerous to financial stability he acted — quickly and without 
regard to technical considerations. On August 4 he 
announced through Orders-in-Council that Bank notes were 
to be legal tender and, for the time being, irreclaimable in 
gold. The effect of this drastic step was immediate. 
Public confidence was very largely restored. Bank business 
went on almost as usual, commercial and financial interests 
proceeded without serious dislocation, business failures 
remained nearly normal. Of course, the progress of the 
War had something to do with this; there was no great 
immediate disaster, no capture of Paris, no British naval 
defeat; the seas were measurably secure, international 
trade continued. The one thing seriously affected was 



212 CANADA AT WAR 

international exchange and the failure of the United States 
at the moment to make good its gold indebtedness to 
Britain. On August 12 it was announced by the Minister 
of Finance that negotiations had been going on between 
the Government, represented in London by Hon. G. H. 
Perley, and the Bank of England, under which the latter 
institution would keep a gold balance — as forwarded from 
New York — in the hands of the Finance Minister at 
Ottawa and make payments against it in London. In suc- 
ceeding months the amount was steadily enlarged to facili- 
tate British business with the United States and to help in 
controlling sterling exchange rates at New York. Trans- 
actions assumed a large figure, though evidently not 
included in statements of import and export. Those 
announced up to November 14, 1914, totalled over 
$73,000,000, while coin and bullion imports for the year 
ending March 31, 1915, were $131,000,000; in 1916 and 1917 
they totalled $62,000,000. There were at other stages varied 
phases of the exchange difficulty ; as a rule, however, a visit 
by the Finance Minister to Washington or negotiations with 
London adjusted the matter. By the close of the War, it 
may be added, the value of the gold coin and gold bullion 
received at Ottawa by the Department of Finance as 
Trustee for the Imperial Government and the Bank of 
England totalled $1,300,000,000. 

Mr. White, in fact, acted in Canada with the same sense 
of responsibility and indifference to precedent as did Mr. 
Lloyd George in England, and with the same satisfactory 
results. He saved the Banks from any possibility of panic 
over a demand for gold, he made exchange easy, at several 
critical junctures between the United States and Britain, 
he arranged a large war credit in London for Canada to 
draw upon in its initial war preparations, he permitted the 
Banks to obtain Dominion notes by depositing satisfactory 
securities at Ottawa instead of gold or a portion of gold. 
This latter action was taken to aid in moving the current 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 313 

crops to market and the Minister appointed a Committee 
to advise in the selection of securities as follows: D. R. 
Wilkie, President Canadian Bankers ' Association, Toronto ; 
Sir F. Williams-Taylor, General Manager Bank of Mon- 
treal, Montreal ; E. L. Pease, General Manager Royal Bank 
of Canada, Montreal; H. B. Walker, Manager Canadian 
Bank of Commerce, Montreal. As the months and years 
passed on the Minister was able to establish credits in 
Canada on behalf of the Imperial Government totalling 
$709,000,000 up to November 30, 1918, and with these Great 
Britain was able to purchase war supplies and munitions 
in Canada while he also arranged with the Chartered Banks 
for further advances of $200,000,000 for the British pur- 
chase of munitions and wheat. Against these totals Great 
Britain advanced to the Dominion $609,000,000 for the 
maintenance of Canadian troops abroad, etc. 

Meanwhile, revenue and trade and production had all 
been growing greatly. In 1914-15 (March 31) the national 
revenue was $133,073,481, in 1915-16 $172,147,838, in 
1916-17 $232,701,294, in 1917-18 $260,778,952, or a total of 
$798,000,000 ; there was a deficit in the first War-year but 
surpluses in each year following, over ordinary expendi- 
tures, of $42,000,000, $84,000,000 and $82,000,000 respec- 
tively. War expenditures, however, totalled in the four 
years $877,263,847, with an outlay to November 30, 1918, 
which made it $1,068,606,527. To meet these enormous 
demands special taxation was of course necessary, and Sir 
Thomas White was not afraid to tax everything except the 
more essential supplies. Higher customs duties were 
imposed in 1915 through an ad valorem increase of 7^/^ 
per cent, to the general tariff and 5 per cent, to the British 
preferential tariff on all commodities except certain food- 
stuffs, coal, harvesting machinery, etc.; in 1918 a special 
duty was put on tea and coffee. Excise duties on liquors 
and tobacco were greatly increased; war taxes were 
imposed on transportation tickets, telegrams, money orders, 



314 CANADA AT WAR 

cheques, letters, patent medicines, etc. Under the Business 
Profits tax the Government, in the case of all business 
concerns having a capital of $50,000 and over, took 25 per 
cent, of the net profits over 7 per cent, and not exceeding 
15 per cent., and 50 per cent, of the profits over 15 per cent, 
and not exceeding 20 per cent. In the case of a business 
having a capital of $25,000 or under $50,000 the Govern- 
ment took 25 per cent, of all profits in excess of 10 per cent, 
on the capital employed. Companies employing capital of 
less than $25,000 were exempted, with the exception of those 
dealing in munitions or war supplies. 

An Income tax was inaugurated for the first time in 
Canadian history and came into effect in 1918 with a scale 
which provided for $1,000 exemption of income in the case 
of unmarried persons, $2,000 in the case of married people 
with $200 exemption for each child. An issue of $50,000,000 
of War Savings Stamps was announced in 1918 with a view 
to increasing Government revenue and encouraging indi- 
vidual thrift. Meantime the National Debt had grown from 
$335,996,850 on March 31, 1914, before the War, to a total 
of $1,330,228,898 on December 31, 1918, after the War. As 
against this latter fact was the enormous increase in 
national wealth. Prior to the War the total wealth of the 
whole Dominion in lands, buildings, live-stock, fisheries, 
manufactures, railways, canals, shipping, telegraphs, tele- 
phones, real estate, coin and bullion, merchandise in store, 
and current production, was put at $11,000,000,000.* In 
1918 the Dominion Census Bureau officially estimated the 
total at $19,002,788,125. To this great increase in wealth 
was due, no doubt, the facility with which money in this 
one-time borrowing community was obtained from the peo- 
ple for War purposes through National loans — totalling a 
Government call in the five Loans issued of $950,000,000 
and a general subscription of $137,729,500 to the first Loan 
in 1915, $201,444,800 to the second in 1916, $260,768,000 to 

* Canadian Bankers' Association estimate, 1911. 



WAK ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 215 

the third in 1917, $419,280,000 to the fourth in 1917, and 
$695,389,277 to the fifth in 1918, or a total of $1,690,000,000. 
Meantime, as already stated, Canadian trade had been 
advancing by leaps and bounds. Between 1911 and 1914 
(March 31) it had increased $53,000,000 and had passed the 
billion dollar point; closely following the outbreak of war 
there was a natural but surprisingly small check in the 
process of expansion; in the fiscal year 1916 there was a 
remarkable increase from $1,112,000,000 to $1,424,000,000. 
By 1918 the total increase since the War began was 
$1,400,000,000. More important, however, than this total 
— significant enough in itself — was the nature of the 
change which it involved. Before the War (March 31, 
1914) Canada had imported $633,000,000 and exported 
$479,000,000 worth of products with a balance of 
$154,000,000 against her and this payable largely in bor- 
rowed money; two years later (March 31, 1916) the total 
imports were $542,000,000 and the exports $882,000,000, or 
a favourable balance of $340,000,000. In 1918 the imports 
had leaped to $962,000,000 and the exports to $1,586,000,000, 
or a balance to the good of $624,000,000. The progress in 
exports is shown in the following table of calendar years :* 

Exports of 1914 1915 1916 

The Mine $53,084,863 $62,960,628 $83,462,893 

The Fisheries 18,661,560 22,407,687 24,696,944 

The Forest 41,523,344 51,211,820 55,676,911 

Animal Produce 70,727,132 99,056,115 119,451,687 

Agricultural Products 126,262,825 237,964,468 371,753,651 

Manufactures 71,870,071 190,997,981 444,275,942 

Miscellaneous 549,920 4,666,732 7,763,450 

Total $382,679,715 $669,265,431 $1,107,081,478 

Exports of 1917 1918 

The Mine $76,082,491 $79,650,972 

The Fisheries 28,929,640 34,129,743 

The Forest 51,695,847 66,857,990 

Animal Produce 174,734,202 181,391,749 

Agricultural Products 535,139,629 326,974,133 

Manufactures 673,000,725 555,725,934 

Miscellaneous 4,868,346 5,119,826 

Total $1,544,450,880 $1,249,850,347 

* Compiled by the Canadian Bank of Commerce. 



216 CANADA AT WAR 

An increase in four years of $68,000,000 in the exports 
of minerals, fish and lumber, of $111,000,000 in Animal 
products, of $200,000,000 in Agricultural produce and 
$484,000,000 in manufactures affords a vivid picture of 
war-time prosperity. Such a change in conditions was, 
of course, a tremendous factor and it influenced every 
phase of the national life. It was a proof of the pro- 
ductivity of the country, an evidence of the capacity of 
the manufacturers and financiers and public men of the 
nation, a proof of the industry of the people and of 
the organized patriotism of labour and capital. There 
were in this whole critical period of the War few strikes 
and no serious troubles between employers and workmen; 
high wages were given the workmen and high prices paid 
by them; at the same time the total Bank deposits of the 
people, after meeting war loans and war subscriptions and 
war prices, increased by $660,000,000 during the War. 
Following a depression in stocks which had existed before 
the War, and the almost complete cessation of speculation 
in land, another process of development arose out of the 
submergence of prices and values in August, 1914. There 
had been a continuous depreciation in the market of most 
Canadian stocks before that date and since 1912. Accord- 
ing to the Montreal Financial Times, in detailed figures, 
38 Canadian stocks had depreciated in that time to a total 
of $38,000,000. By August 14, 1915, 31 representative 
stocks had entirely changed their condition and appre- 
ciated $90,000,000, while in October, 1916, 37 such stocks 
appreciated another $80,000,000. Similar changes con- 
tinued to the end with large developments in the value of 
War stocks or shares in munition-making concerns. 

Another change in economic conditions was the transfer 
of Canada's borrowing arrangements from London to New 
York and thence to its own people. When the roar of Ger- 
man guns was heard on Belgian soil its first echo told the 
Canadian financier that he could get no more money in 




V' 



I 










v|r:v 



'V V 



■ -« i 



">br 



•'^r 







^^^< * 




■-^\. 



i>-... 



-4- A. 



•ffe'^K^^' 




WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 217 

England until that sound had ceased and that the fertiliz- 
ing stream which had set going the railways of Canada, 
dug its canals, built its steamships, developed its soil 
through indirect loans to farmers, backed up its entire 
financial fabric and Government policy of progress, must 
stop for a time. Would Canadian credit hold good? was 
the question of the day. Could public works stiU be car- 
ried on by Dominion, Provincial or Municipal authorities'? 
Would the individual interests of the country receive a 
check which might spell disaster and, in any case, involve 
prolonged, crushing depression? The answer came (1) 
through the financial action and policy of the Government 
and its British backing; (2) through the stability and 
efficiency of the Banks : (3) through the security and con- 
tinuance and increase in trade; (4) through loans freely 
floated in New York which totalled, for all Canada in the 
first two years of war, $300,000,000; (5) through loans 
from the people to the Government which ran up to 
$1,788,000,000 during the War and to much more if Pro- 
vincial and Municipal loans were included; (6) through 
the work of the Government institutions such as the War 
Trade Board and the Imperial Munitions Board and 
various energetic Departments. 

Eailways obtained a considerable portion of Government 
loans, and they needed it. One of the gravest problems 
facing the Government at the outbreak of war was the 
situation in this respect. Eailway earnings already were 
on the down-grade, while two great lines were barely com- 
pleted across the continent with huge debts maturing, large 
Government interests and still larger public interests 
involved, and a maximum of expenses, certain for some 
years to come, with a minimum of earnings. War appeared 
to mean, and did mean, for many months, largely reduced 
receipts, fewer passengers, less freights. Careful manage- 
ment, however, succeeded for a time in reducing expenses, 
increasing trade, gradually and then rapidly, increased 
15 



218 CANADA AT WAR 

receipts and, by 1916, the Canadian Pacific was doing the 
greatest business in its history ; while the two other trans- 
continental Lines had been carried around sharp corners 
by Government aid and the credit of the country main- 
tained, in this respect, through absolutely essential advances 
at critical periods. The national advantages which must 
follow the construction of 19,000 miles of railway lines in 
ten years had been considered and conserved; the 
$140,000,000 increase of gross earnings on these lines, in 
that period, understood and maintained. It was a difficult 
proposition for both politicians and financiers, but, by the 
end of 1916, there w^ere few who doubted the wisdom of 
the Government in this temporary policy or the skill of the 
Eailway managers — though many wanted a further 
expansion and application of the Government ownership 
principle. 

In 1917 this question became a still more vital issue. 
There had been, during much of these years, a severe 
shortage in rolling stock, great difficulty and prolonged 
delays in obtaining renewals of equipment, serious 
increases in the price of all railway material, large 
advances and demands as to wages and heavy reductions 
in labour supply, a natural impairment of credit and dif- 
ficulty in obtaining money, considerable congestion in 
traffic owing to war requirements and costs, or inadequate 
facilities, or deficiencies in equipment. Construction 
projects had, of course, been eliminated or reduced to a 
minimum — the new track construction of 1916 had been 
297 miles compared with 719 in 1915. At the same time, 
as the year 1917 passed and a record volume of traffic came 
to Canadian lines, it was found that these difficulties had 
been met in many directions. Earnings had mounted 
higher with the increasing costs, while splendid work by 
the management of the four great systems of Canada pre- 
vented any such break-down in operation as characterized 
the United States. Economy became a habit, efficiency was 



WAE ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 219 

largely developed. The chief statistics of 1914 and the four 
War years (June 30) were as follows : 

1914 1915 1916 

Total mileage 30,795 35,578 37,434 

Capitalization $1,808,820,761 $1,875,810,888 $1,893,877,819 

Tons of freight carried 101,393,989 87,204,838 109,659,088 

Number of passengers 46,702,280 46,322,035 49,027,671 

Gross earnings $243,083,539 $199,843,072 $263,527,157 

Operating expenses $178,975,258 $147,731,099 $180,542,259 

Net earnings $64,108,280 $52,111,972 $81,346,394 

1917 1918 

Total mileage 38,604 38,879 

Capitalization $1,985,119,991 $1,999,880,494 

Tons of freight carried 121,916,272 127,543,687 

Number of passengers 53,749,680 50,737,294 

Gross earnings $310,771,479 $330,220,150 

Operating expenses $222,890,637 $273,955,436 

Net earnings $87,880,842 $56,264,714 

A combination of problems also brought combined action 
and on October 24, 1917, as a result of war conditions and 
of Government suggestion, the Canadian Eailway Associa- 
tion for National Defence was formed at Montreal with 
the object of formulating in detail a policy of operation 
for all or any of the railways, for the co-ordinating of 
industrial activities toward the prosecution of the War, 
and for rendering the most efficient possible service to the 
national cause. It was hoped that through heavier loading 
of cars, elimination of unnecessary train service, the 
co-operative use of all facilities to the best advantage, the 
country's needs might be better served, and, of course, the 
convenience of the Railways also. Efforts also were made 
to obtain increased freight and passenger rates as trans- 
portation by rail had increased in cost, at first, because the 
railways had to do something to meet reduced shipments 
and fewer travellers; afterwards rates stiffened because 
of the heavy demands of larger crops, the carrying of hun- 
dreds of thousands of troops, the later requirements of 
millions of tons of munitions and war supplies and parcels 
for the Front. It was not until 1918 that the advance was 
actually permitted by the Government. Ocean transport 
rates, meantime, had gone sky-high and stayed there for 



220 CANADA AT WAK 

obvious reasons — the destruction of trading vessels by 
submarines and mines, the loss of 4,000,000 tons of British 
shipping, the internment of steamships in neutral and enemy- 
ports, the withdrawal by the British Government of a vast 
number of small and large vessels for every kind of mari- 
time war- work, the calling of great trans- Atlantic or Pacific 
liners into operation as war cruisers or transports. 

Meanwhile the proposals for Railway nationalization, or 
public ownership on a large scale, had been made possible 
by the War and its application in respect to certain Cana- 
dian railways became almost inevitable through war- 
created conditions. The action of the Government in sav- 
ing the railway and financial situation in 1916 by special 
aid to the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern 
Railways for the purpose of meeting current obligations 
and interest payments precipitated the appointment (July 
13, 1916) of a Royal Commission to inquire into Railways 
and Transportation — including territories served by the 
three great systems of Canada, physical conditions, opera- 
tive methods, branch lines, connections in the United 
States, steamship connections and financial conditions, 
together with problems of re-organization, or state acqui- 
sition. The Commissioners appointed were Alfred H. 
Smith, President of the New York Central, Sir Henry L. 
Drayton, Chairman of the Canadian Railway Commission, 
and Sir George Paish of London ; the latter, being unable 
to act, was replaced by Wm. M. Acworth of London. The 
Report was presented to Parliament on May 3, with one 
section signed by Sir H. L. Drayton and Mr. Acworth and 
the other by Mr. Smith. The majority document was in 
favour of a disguised form of Government ownership ; the 
minority of one (Mr. Smith) was opposed to this policy in 
principle and practice. The Government, however, had to 
decide an immediate issue — apart from theories, prece- 
dents of peace times in other countries, or the rights and 
wrongs of particular proposals. The Canadian Northern 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 221 

and Grand Trunk Pacific must have still more help under 
war conditions which made it impossible to obtain money 
on the open market ; public opinion clearly was opposed to 
further Government aid without Government ownership 
or control, and the Prime Minister himself had at one time 
led a political campaign in favour of this latter policy 
in relation to the Grand Trunk Pacific construction period ; 
the very success and wealth of the C. P. E. made the pub- 
lic suspicious of ' ' great and grasping corporations, ' ' while 
the opposite condition of other Railways made people fear- 
ful of future Canadian burdens from corporations that 
might not succeed! 

The West was almost a unit for Government ownership 
and the West was swinging a wide measure of political 
influence. In Parliament on August 1, 1917, Sir Thomas 
White presented the Government's plan for a solution of 
the problem. After dealing at length with the Royal Com- 
mission, its reports, and its conclusions, he said: *'The 
finances of the Canadian Pacific are all that you might 
desire. The finances of the Grand Trunk Railway are 
entirely satisfactory with the exception only of their con- 
tingent liability, which is a very heavy one, in respect to 
the securities of the Grand Trunk Pacific which they have 
guaranteed. The position of the Canadian Northern is 
that, although the Company makes net earnings, any sur- 
plus cash it has on that account it requires to pay for 
betterments and rolling stock. The result is that the Com- 
pany is short of cash for the purpose of paying interest 
upon its underlying securities. . . . The prolongation of 
the War has made it impossible for the Canadian Northern 
to float any additional securities, to issue any further 
debenture stock." His proposal was for the Government 
(1) to acquire the 600,000 shares of capital stock of the 
C. N. R. Company — par value $60,000,000 — at a price to 
be determined but not to exceed $10,000,000; (2) to appoint 
three arbitrators to settle such values and obtain such 



222 CANADA AT WAR 

reports and facts as might be necessary; (3) to give the 
Company, upon transfer of these shares, all necessary aid in 
arranging its indebtedness and obligations — the total on 
September 30, 1917, being $557,331,355. Eventually Par- 
liament approved the proposals and the C. N. R, in 1918 
became Government property. A temporary expedient in 
respect to the Grand Trunk Pacific was another Govern- 
ment Loan; in 1919 it passed into the hands of receivers 
and practically came under Government control. 

Canadian industry, in its manufacturing sense, faced and 
conquered difficulties, great difficulties, in these years. It 
had to meet at first a prospect of diminished markets, 
depleted labour, high cost of supplies, decreased prices of 
products, lower capital reserves and credit, with all kinds 
of speculative war risks in prices, raw material, shipments, 
cost of transportation, etc. It entered the depressing 
period of August, 1914, with production already reduced 
and sails furled for a possible period of still more dimin- 
ished output and greater financial restriction. It after- 
wards emerged from two years of war with the greatest 
output in history — totalling an estimated sum of 
$2,000,000,000 — with every factory busy, with appeals for 
men and women workers from all parts of the country, 
with prices of products high and demand incessant, with 
no time to think of the future, or even, in some cases, to 
safeguard the present. Munitions and war supplies had 
much to do with the process, increased home demands 
resulting from decreased imports influenced the result, 
great prosperity in Agriculture, in minerals, timber, fish- 
eries and livestock to a 1915 production of over 
$1,600,000,000, had much to do with it. From stagnation to 
sensational activity was the record of these two years; 
perhaps not entirely a wholesome one, but still one which 
circulated much money and kept up the other works of 
war along imperatively-needed lines. The first call upon 
industry had echoed and fulfilled those words of Harold 



WAK ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 233 

Begbie which for a time received such wide acceptance in 
Canada : 

Let the foe who strikes at England hear her wheels of commerce turn. 
Let the ships that war with England see her factory furnace burn; 
For the foe most fears the cannon, and his heart most quails with dread. 
When behind .the man in khaki is the man who keeps his head. 

Afterwards too much stress was laid upon this idea by 
some Avho were selfishly interested in keeping their 
employees at home through discouragement of recruiting. 
The situation of prosperity did not develop in a day. The 
Massey-Harris concern, with large industrial interests in 
enemy markets, suffered suddenly and severely and for a 
time closed down its works; other manufacturers feared 
that operations would be greatly hampered by the absence 
of German dyes and such products as ferro-manganese 
which had been obtained from Germany; the drug and 
chemical trades were greatly troubled as to potash, the 
electrical industry as to platinum, manufacturers of photo- 
graphic materials as to oxalic acid, and so on with various 
interests. But means were found to overcome these and 
other obstacles. It came to be understood that Germany 
had been sending to Canada in the past considerable quan- 
tities of iron and steel goods, such as tubing, steel tires, 
cutlery, machinery, wire, etc.; a great variety of hard- 
ware, lamps, clocks, jewelry, electrical apparatus, scientific 
instruments, musical instruments, earthenware and glass- 
ware; all kinds of drygoods, cotton and woolen goods, 
hosiery, gloves, fancy goods, toys, dolls, buttons, combs, 
etc. ; also drugs and important chemicals which could more 
or less be made and supplied at home. German methods had 
been very thorough and it put Canadian manufacturers 
upon their mettle to cope with the situation. A campaign 
was commenced in the press (1914-15) and on the plat- 
form to (1) urge each manufacturer to keep going, to have 
confidence and to seek new markets with new goods; (2) to 
impress upon Canadians the desirability of buying home- 



224 CANADA AT WAR 

made goods, articles made in Canada, in place especially 
of the $450,000,000 worth bought yearly from the United 
States; (3) to urge the thought that a considerable part of 
the $2,400,000,000 of Germany's exports to the world could 
be replaced by Canadian production or manufacture if 
enterprise, energy and ingenuity were displayed. 

As the early months of war passed many of these activi- 
ties were turned in the direction of war munitions and sup- 
plies, but others remained along more permanent lines, 
and by 1916 every great staple industry in Canada was 
prosperous. New industries, such as wooden and steel 
ship-building, promised large development, and others, such 
as the pulp mills, paper making, flour mills and textile 
interests, flourished greatly. According to a census of 
Canadian manufacturers compiled by the Dominion Bureau 
of Statistics for the year 1917, the value of products made 
in Canada totalled $3,015,506,869, which compared more 
than favourably with the figures for 1915, which were 
$1,407,137,140, or for 1905, which totalled $718,352,603. To 
more than double production in two years certainly was a 
record; at the same time wages grew from 1915 to 1917 
from a total of $229,000,000 to $457,000,000; the invested 
capital increased from $1,994,000,000 to $2,772,000,000. 
Some of the great productive increases of these years were 
in flour milling, iron and steel, meat packing, car-making, 
automobiles, boots and shoes, light and power, electric 
apparatus and all forms of munitions. As illustrations of 
this growth it may be stated that the average production 
of leather in Canada was $2,162,662 in the three years of 
1912-14, while in 1918 the total was $10,986,221; the same 
average for certain metal manufactures — copper, nickel, 
brass, and aluminium — was $15,323,513, while in 1918 the 
total was $46,271,848 ; the production of iron and steel man- 
■afaf?t'^res in 1914 was $11,374,981, and in 1918, $45,810,367. 
Ths average for printing paper grew from that of 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 225 

$6,739,299 in 1912-14 to a total of $33,978,347 in 1918, and 
that of vehicles from $2,871,163 to $22,776,590. 

There was also a tremendous demand for new vessels 
and shipping and a natural development in this line of 
Canadian industry. Early progress was made along sub- 
stantial lines, and by the close of 1916 splendidly equipped 
ship-building plants were in operation at Montreal, 
Toronto, CoUingwood, Port Arthur, and Vancouver; aux- 
iliary schooners were under construction at Vancouver for 
the Pacific timber trade; various contracts were in hand 
for ships required by Norway to replace its torpedoed 
vessels; twenty or more steel freighters were under con- 
struction for export, presumably to Britain; wooden ships 
were being successfully built in Nova Scotia. In 1917 the 
Government took up the question of encouraging the indus- 
try with a dozen great ship-building yards ready for action. 
Between January 1, 1918, and the end of that year 45 steel 
vessels with a carrying capacity of 208,167 tons and 58 
wooden vessels with a capacity of 159,200 tons had been 
launched under the order of the Imperial Munitions Board, 
the Department of Marine, or by private contract, with 
further Government contracts authorized for 39 ships of 
233,000 tonnage. Meanwhile 12 submarines for the Imperial 
Government and six for that of Italy had been constructed 
together with 60 armed trawlers, 100 armed drifters, 550 
coastal patrol motor boats and 24 steel lighters for use in 
Mesopotamia — also for the Imperial Government. 

Meanwhile, Agriculture had made tremendous progress. 
During these years, indeed, the farmer became one of the 
pivots upon which the destiny of nations and the conduct 
of the World War turned. In Canada he did not always 
understand or appreciate what this meant; occasionally it 
conveyed to him only an opportunity of getting higher 
prices for a stated product or better returns for a given 
amount of work. It really was possible to be an individual 
profiteer on a farm as it was in the manipulation of muni- 



226 CANADA AT WAK 

tions or any other war industry. But, upon the whole, the 
Canadian farmer worked hard in these war years, did his 
duty well, and profited by substantial prices even while 
paying more for seed and wages and supplies. At the same 
time he kept his own interests well to the front by organiza- 
tion, by demands in certain sections for free trade in 
various products, by a system of organized agitation which 
equalled, if it did not excell, the undoubted capacity and 
influence of the manufacturers. The powerful Grain Grow- 
ers ' associations of the A¥est first took up co-operative 
supply, then co-operative elevators, then co-operative 
finance ; they took part in Provincial politics along agricul- 
tural lines and expanded into British Columbia, Ontario 
and Nova Scotia where similar organizations and principles 
were established in these years and grew to a considerable 
extent. Farmers were accorded free-trade in wheat and 
wheat flour while the duty on farm tractors was remitted 
during the war, and 1,100 tractors were distributed by the 
Government at cost ; prices were fixed for wheat in such a 
way that substantial profits were assured, while Imperial 
and Allied purchasing agencies made certain a profitable 
market for all that could be produced in Canada; seed 
deficits in certain sections of the West were met by Domin- 
ion Government advances or supplies. 

The Canadian farmer during these war years had two 
dominant beliefs — one, that his industry was the basis of 
Canadian strength and a factor in war success; the other 
that it was just as patriotic to produce as to fight. Without 
arguing either point here, it may be said that the Census and 
other figures showed great agricultural prosperity. In 1911 
the valuation of Canadian farm property (including live- 
stock) was $4,231,840,636, and in 1917 was estimated at 
$5,000,000,000; in the fiscal years 1914-15-16-17-18 the 
shipments abroad of farm products (agricultural and 
animal) totalled $2,056,000,000, and most of this export 
went to the United Kingdom at war prices and profits to 



WAE ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 227 

both the farmer and the middleman ; every report of Pro- 
vincial or Dominion farm organizations showed prosperity 
and excellent financial conditions in these years, and the 
above export compared with a total of $1,500,000,000 of 
industrial production — including War industries and 
munitions ; the average value of occupied farm lands went 
up from $38.41 per acre in 1914 to $46.00 in 1918 while the 
increased value of grain and live-stock in 1914-18 was 
$1,400,000,000; official figures showed increased values in 
live-stock alone, and in the one year, of $224,000,000. In 
1912-13-14 the average yearly value of Canada's exports 
of butter, cheese, eggs, oats and wheat was $118,000,000; 
in 1918 the actual export was $445,000,000. Meantime the 
world-shortage in food had produced a system of regulation 
and control in Canada under (1) Hon. W. J. Hanna and 
(2) H. B. Thomson and the Food Board; it had produced 
also a vigorous and continued appeal for increased farm 
production, for more foodstuffs; by economy and restric- 
tion in consumption, by increase in home and market gar- 
dening, by additional labour help from the cities to the 
farms, by increased prices for production the farmers were 
encouraged to produce more and more. The fact that in 
beef the export of 1918 was 126,000,000 pounds, or a gain 
of 42,000,000 over 1917 ; that in pork the export increased 
from 12,000,000 to 35,000,000 pounds; that in wheat and 
other food grains the same two years saw an increased 
acreage of 6,000,000 ; that the consumption of fish increased 
100 per cent, and that butter was largely exported instead 
of being imported in considerable quantities; that the 
Canadian consumption of wheat flour was decreased by 
200,000 barrels a month and that a saving of 100,000 tons 
of sugar annually was effected by regulation and supervi- 
sion; all these things illustrate the result of this organiza- 
tion and advocacy. 

Another economic problem of great importance and o:'' 
intense individual interest was the high cost of living. It 



338 CANADA AT WAR 

was not altogether a war problem; it already had reached 
a high level in 1913 before the war; it rose somewhat in 
1914, and leaped upwards in 1916-18. It was a world-wide 
issue, based, in its serious phenomena, upon inadequate 
production at the points of demand, insistent requirements 
of a continuous and world-wide nature, costly and insuffi- 
cient transportation by land and by sea. It was accom- 
panied by conditions associated with these fundamental 
ones — increasing scarcity of coal from (1) lack of labour 
and (2) increase of demand; exhaustion of many raw 
materials followed by ever-increasing military needs and 
transport difficulties. Government control took new and 
extraordinary forms, every effort was made, compatible 
with that stiff and unthinking independence which charac- 
terizes modern democracy, to organize men and interests, 
economize consumption, and facilitate distribution ; but the 
best results were not as good as they should have been. 
Except in Australia and New Zealand, where crops could 
not be shipped, food prices grew high and higher. Early 
in 1916 retail food prices in Germany and Austria were 
double those ruling before the war; in 1918 and in 1919 
they fluctuated with a steady upward tendency. In a four- 
year period prices in Canada, Great Britain and the United 
States ran, roughly, according to index numbers, as 
follows :* 



Wholesale 




Great 


United 


Retail food 




Great 


United 


prices 


Canada 


Britain 


States 


prices 


Canada 


Britain 


States 


1913 


. 135.5 


85 


81 


1913 


. 7.33 


102 


98 


1916 


. 182.0 


137 


100 


1916 


. 8.79 


160 


112 


Dec, 1916. 


. 207.4 


154.3 


118 


Dec, 1916. 


. 10.11 


184 


125 


Aug., 1917. 


. 245.0 


175.7 


150 


Aug., 1917. 


. 11.68 


202 


147 



As to Canada, specifically, the process at first was not 
clear, nor were the local increases large or sweeping. 
There seemed to be only a tendency to higher prices in 
certain natural lines. Tea went up for a time but was 
afterwards reduced, and other items of increases were 

* Wholesale Prices in Canada, issued by Department of Labour, Ottawa. 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 239 

described on August 24, 1914, as follows: Cocoa, 10 per 
cent; coffee, 5 cents per pound; imported and sweetened 
biscuits, 25 per cent; imported jellies and jams, 25 per 
cent; Canadian jellies and jams, 14 cent per pound; confec- 
tionery, 1 cent per pound ; liquors $1 to $2 per case. Bread 
remained almost normal for a time. Finally, by a steady, 
successive process, it was found in November, 1916, that 
the dollar of 1914 was only worth 67 cents in the purchase 
of specified foodstuffs. Bread, milk, butter, sugar, bacon 
and other meats, coal, eggs, lard, cheese, flour, potatoes, 
canned corn, peas and other vegetables had increased in 
degrees varying from 20 to 171 per cent. The price of 
bread varied during this period with an average price in 
Ontario — where the weight of the loaf was regulated by 
Provincial Statute — of 3 '87 cents in the pre-war six months 
of 1914, or 4'4 cents in the first six months of 1915, of 
4' 15 cents in the same period of 1916. Meanwhile, official 
figures for twenty-nine foods in sixty Canadian centres 
showed a retail price of $7.42 in July, 1914, and $8.97 in 
September, 1916, while index figures published by the 
Department of Labour at Ottawa stated an increase of 
forty-six points in Canadian wholesale prices on 271 com- 
modities during the same period. 

The problem Avas one of ever-increasing interest to Cana- 
dians, even apart from the war — prior to which the prices 
of food had risen from an index figure of 100 in 1900 to 145 
in 1913, or three times the current increase in Great Britain. 
The cost of coal had also increased at a ratio greater than 
in Britain. It was an extraordinary situation in a new 
country with illimitable quantities and richness of soil, with 
vast beds of bituminous coal under its rolling prairies and 
great resources in anthracite on its Atlantic and Pacific 
coasts. The only possible conclusion was that before the 
war Canadians had been selfish in many cases, grasping in 
others, thriftless and extravagant in varied ways ; with the 
coming of war there was at least a real excuse for continued 



230 CANADA AT WAR - 

increase in the cost of living, though there was no excuse 
for the 1914-16 difference in the relative cost as between 
Britain and Canada — a difference which should have been 
much in the latter 's favour because of Britain's isolation, 
her larger population and smaller area — her far greater 
needs. 

People naturally failed to understand the situation, 
there was much discontent, and the high prices of bacon as 
controlled largely by the Company of which Sir J. W. Fla- 
velle was the head, caused an outburst of personal resent- 
ment in 1917 which will long constitute an interesting page 
in war psychology. The public could not clearly see the 
larger causes and the lesser details which fitted into a 
world condition. Money inflation and high prices are a 
part of all wars, and especially so in a world conflict where 
the output of gold and silver could not keep pace with the 
growth of expenditure ; extravagant living and payment of 
exorbitant prices for luxuries took time for limitation ; the 
waste of food by profiteers holding for better prices, or by 
people striving to get only the better cuts of meat, or by 
the ordering and destruction of individual helpings of food 
only partly used and running to enormous quantities over 
a continent ; the waste of products in cold storage, of apples 
unpicked or wasted, of things lost through lack of labour, 
or the fact of inefficiency — all helped to create scarcity 
and raise prices. Then there was the shopping system by 
telephone, the expensive delivery system and demands of 
thoughtless customers, the high cost of labour-saving 
machinery to the farmer; there were high freight rates 
and losses from delayed or congested transportation, scar- 
city also of teams and carters and delivery or hauling 
equipment ; the increase of wages and decrease of working- 
hours with, in many cases, decrease of efficiency and pro- 
duction were additional causes; there was also the waste 
in garbage, etc., estimated by the Food Controller at 
$56,000,000 or $7 per head of the population every year, 



WAK ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 231 

and losses such as the 26,000 pounds of immature veal 
destroyed in a Toronto fire during a few minutes. 

The Canadian Government could not do much directly 
nor could it effect a rapid change in the habits of the people. 
Many efforts were made, however, and with considerable 
success, to encourage thrift and the saving of money; the 
Department of Labour compiled and issued figures showing 
the steady rise in prices from month to month ; the attitude 
of the Minister of Labour seemed to be that a manufac- 
turer could, within certain limits, fix the price to a retailer, 
but should not attempt to determine the retailer's price to 
the public; Government warnings were issued as to arbi- 
trary or unnecessary increases of a combined nature; in 
November, 1916, an Order-in-Council imposed severe penal- 
ties upon any trust or combine operations for the control of 
such increases in price. Power was given the Minister of 
Labour, and to the municipalities working in conjunction 
with him, to regulate the cost of living by prohibiting undue 
or abnormal increase in the cost of necessities — staple 
articles of food, clothing and fuel — and to provide against 
any undue accumulation or storage of food. Heavy penal- 
ties were imposed for the infraction of these rules or the 
limiting by agreement of facilities in production or manu- 
facture, or the restraining of trade in any necessaries of 
life, or organization to lessen competition in the sale of such 
products. The prices of milk, bread, coal and flour were 
eventually regulated, the consumption of fish was encour- 
aged and prices cheapened, all dealers in food products 
were put under license. 

As the months of war passed into years it became clear 
that this increase in prices was fundamental and not super- 
ficial; it could be moderated in details but could not be 
prevented or abolished. A high crop one year, a short 
crop the next, left all regulations or arrangements in the 
air ; enormous armies, from Mesopotamia to Verdun, from 
Jerusalem to Ypre«, took 40,000,000 men from the fields or 



230 CANADA AT WAR 

the national employments of the world, and at the same 
time increased the demand for food and other supplies ; the 
tying up of Eussia's wheat surplus was a continuous factor 
of the period in relation to flour and bread ; the shortage of 
shipping affected many things in Canada and especially 
sugar prices ; scarcity of labour from the calls of army and 
munition work, caused increased wages and decreased pro- 
duction of ordinary necessaries; the colossal demands of 
armies in the field for boots, clothing, etc., inevitably raised 
the price of many other supplies. Such conditions could 
not be adequately met by the most skillful policy or the 
strongest Order-in-Council of a Canadian Government. 
Isolated modifications and checks were possible ; large cor- 
rective measures were not practicable in either Canada or 
Britain except by a vital Government action which would 
involve control of all important industries — a conscrip- 
tion of all men and women for war or war-work, of all 
capital and interchange and production, for war purposes. 
It will be seen from these facts as to the general economic 
condition of the country that its expansion and prosperity 
during these years of war rested upon more than munition 
contracts or war supplies — important as these matters 
were. It involved a sweeping reversal of trade conditions, 
a change of Canada from a debtor to a creditor nation in 
current business, a striking increase in available capital 
and savings. There was, of course, one year of a great 
grain crop which alone brought to Western Canada an 
estimated $500,000,000 ; there was also a continuance of high 
prices with immense expenditures of home-borrowed money 
with, also, that of Britain or the Allies for war purposes. 
On the other hand there were tremendous calls upon public 
philanthropy, there was not very much practical economy 
in evidence and, if large war expenditures were made in the 
country, so were large sums demanded from the people in 
Government war loans, while labour was scarce and high. 
After four years of war Canada was at the most generally 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 233 

prosperous stage in all its history. Economically this might 
mean anything; practically, in a new country like Canada, 
it meant that large sums of money were being made and 
saved in varied ways, as well as wasted or misspent, and 
that much of this money would, eventually, go into national 
development and help in meeting the strenuous calls of the 
after-war future. The following table of total production 
in 1918 shows the basis upon which this 8,000,000 people 
were prepared to meet the years of change and economic 
revolution which lay before them: 

Field Crops $1,337,000,000 

Dairy Products 62,500,000 

Eggs, Fruit, etc 40,000,000 

Value of Farm Animals 1,100,000,000 

Lumber 176,000,000 

Manufacturing Industries 3,015,000,000 

Fisheries 52,000,000 

Minerals . - 210,000,000 

Total $5,992,500,000 

A few words must be said as to the attitude of Canadian 
labour in the war ; a matter which really lay at the root of 
national economic conditions. A disturbed, restless, dis- 
loyal, discontented condition in the mass of workmen would 
have hampered Government action, changed Government 
policy, hindered recruiting and production, checked indus- 
trial and war efficiency in a thousand directions. As it was 
the workingmen of Canada rallied to the cause of liberty, 
of country and Empire, in a manner which reflected great 
honour upon themselves and their national patriotism. It 
was all the more notable because some of the Labour leaders 
in England, some in the United States, and some in Canada 
itself, were distinguished for a Pacifism and anti-war atti- 
tude which found public expression on more than one 
occasion. Amongst the latter were President J. C. Watters 
of the Trades and Labour Congress, James Simpson of 
Toronto, F. J. Dixon of Winnipeg and E. T. Kingsley of 
Vancouver. The war strain of the workman in all the 
Allied countries was considerable in these years; in Eng- 
16 



234 CANADA AT WAR 

land and France it was very heavy, in the United States 
it evoked violent expression at times; in Canada effort 
remained voluntary and high wages held certain elements 
of discontent in abeyance. The fundamental issue which 
grew acute, in proportion as the war touched the lives and 
interests of the labouring class everywhere, was how the 
cherished fruits of agitation and organization were to be 
subordinated to imperative war necessities without losing, 
or dangerously submerging, the results of a long struggle 
for increased wages, shorter hours, greater liberties. An 
adjustment was reached in England after three years of 
disturbance, in France after the first realization of what 
German conquest meant, in the United States very rapidly, 
outside of I. W. W. and Germanized circles, in Canada 
rather quickly by the great mass of the workers, but more 
slowly by their official leaders. 

The growth of Unionism in Canada had been steady and 
the membership of organized Labour increased from 133,132 
in 1911 to 166,163 in 1914 and then, owing to war conditions 
and partly to recruiting, fell to 143,343 in 1915 — rising 
again to 160,407 in 1916. In this latter year there were 
1,842 local Trades Union branches and, up to its close, 
22,192 enlistments of members. The proportion of organ- 
ized to unorganized Labour appears in the fact shown in the 
1910 Census that there were 987,302 male workers in the 
building trades, domestic service, manufacturing estab- 
lishments, mining, and transportation interests of Canada ; 
there were many more mixed and merged in other occupa- 
tions and the membership of Labour Unions was about one 
in eight of the total male workers of the country. So, in 
the United States, where in 1910 the Census showed 
27,194,914 engaged in manual labour, with 7*7 per cent 
members of labour organizations. Upon the whole, organ- 
ized labour stood by the country and its Government in this 
period; it aided in the Compulsory Eegistration of 1918, 
and, though opposed to Conscription through its chief 



WAE ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 335 

officials, fell in, finally, with the popular decision both as 
workmen and as Canadians ; it held disputes and strikes to 
a minimum which in three years of war included only 162, 
with 38,975 men involved, as compared with 361 and 110,000 
men in the preceding three years — though in the fourth year 
(1917) there was an increase to 148 disputes and 48,329 
men; it sent altogether about 30,000 men to the front in 
voluntary enlistment, though unorganized labour showed a 
total estimated at 130,000 in 1917, and totalling for both 
elements 200,000 before the end of the war. As an organi- 
zation, and led by the men already mentioned, the Trades 
and Labour Congress opposed military or industrial Con- 
scription, or war regulation of labour, denounced the War- 
time Election Act or alien disfranchisement, favoured the 
formation of an independent Labour party of the British 
pacifist type, demanded pensions for mothers and old age, 
urged the ' ' conscription of wealth. ' ' Eventually organized 
Labour took part in a Conference with the Government in 
January, 1918, and discussed the organization of man- 
power for the prosecution of the war, national registration, 
the conscription of alien labour and the representation of 
labour on Government Commissions. It may be added that 
such strikes as did occur in these years were largely in 
mines such as those of Alberta District No. 17 of the 
United Mine Workers of America, the British Columbia 
mines and those of Northern Ontario, where I. W. W. and 
alien workmen caused most of the trouble. 

One of the vital economic problems of the war on this 
continent was that of coal supply and Government con- 
trol of fuel consumption. Coal energy was behind indus- 
trial work, munitions and transportation and all these 
factors were of prime importance. Canada depended 
especially upon the United States for her anthracite coal 
and the Government concentrated its efforts on securing 
adequate imports from that source. Mr. C. A. Magrath 
was appointed Fuel Controller in July, 1917, and during 



236 CANADA AT WAR 

the winter of that year Canada's fuel requirements were 
exceedingly high. War industries had been speeded up and 
this meant increased requirements in bituminous coal, 
whilst the demands for anthracite were excessive because 
of the abnormally severe winter. On the American side of 
the line the same conditions prevailed and Canada was for- 
tunate in obtaining from the United States larger tonnages 
of both bituminous and anthracite coal than had been 
imported in any previous year. Its people experienced 
periods of *'heatless days," the regulated stoppage of all 
industries, the closing of theatres and other conservation 
measures. In November, 1917, new regulations were 
enforced and provision made for appointment of provincial 
fuel administrators and municipal fuel commissioners, 
while profits in the coal trade were restricted to fifty cents 
a ton. The winter of 1918-19 proved unexpectedly mild 
and many problems of scarcity and possibilities of priva- 
tion were successfully met or averted. The figures of 
importation in 1916-18 illustrate the increased demand for 
coal and the nature of the problem : 

Year ending Bituminous Anthracite 

March 31 Tons, net Tons, net 

1916 9,807,972 4,427,330 

1917 13,545,877 4,572,440 

1918 17,331,177 5,253,731 

Another condition of indirect economic importance was 
the work of the Council for Scientific and Industrial 
Research — a body appointed by and co-operating with the 
Government in an advisory capacity. Its object was to 
tabulate lines of action for developing the more scientific 
production of manufactured products, whether for war or 
peace-time. Under the leadership of Dr. A. B. Maccallum, 
F.R.S., much useful work was done in respect to flax culti- 
vation, cold storage, the Fraser River salmon question and 
plant and animal diseases ; regarding industrial and after- 
war problems such as hydro-electric power, potash, phos- 
phate supply, nitrogen fixation, use of munition plants. 



WAE ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 237 

Western lignite coal, soil survey and land classification; 
as to special questions like forestry and man-power, or 
technical and scientific problems such as the investigation of 
tar-fog and the utilization of waste straw for the production 
of gas. Inquiries into chemistry subjects of specific nature 
ran up to nearly 100 in number. The Housing problem was 
an economic issue developed by increased industrial pro- 
duction and the fact that in every Canadian centre it 
became impossible to obtain adequate living facilities for 
the workmen, or men of moderate means, in days of high 
rents and high prices. Eventually, early in 1919, the 
Dominion Government appropriated $25,000,000 to lend to 
the Provinces at 5 per cent, so that they, in turn, could lend 
it to individual contractors and builders, workers or 
returned soldiers, for the construction of small dwellings. 
Approximately it was allotted as follows : Prince Edward 
Island, $326,000; Nova Scotia, $1,716,000; New Brunswick, 
$1,225,000; Quebec, $6,980,000; Ontario, $8,781,000; Mani- 
toba, $1,586,000; Saskatchewan, $1,716,000; Alberta, 
$1,304,000; British Columbia, $1,366,000. Ontario under- 
took to advance $2,000,000 additional to its allotment, or a 
total of $10,781,000. The scheme was not fully worked out 
at the time of writing, but its urgency and popular advan- 
tages were clear. 

Amongst the many-sided problems of the war. Prohibi- 
tion of the liquor traffic was one of the most complex and 
curious. It was claimed to be a great moral issue, it was 
said to be essential as a physical factor in the improvement 
of the race, it was supported strenuously as an economic 
element in the enforcement of public economy and the con- 
sequent increase in private and national resources available 
for war work. All the provinces adopted it in some form 
or another during 1914-18, and it proved, in fact, to be one 
of the most extraordinary popular movements on record. 
In every province of Canada except British Columbia and 
Ontario the legislation was permanent in character and 



238 CANADA AT WAR 

could hardly be called war measures, though no doubt influ- 
enced and aided by war conditions. In Alberta, Saskatche- 
wan, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island it was adopted 
by a vote of the electors without any qualification as to the 
future. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec it was 
made law by legislative action. In each of these Provinces, 
however, the greater portion of the territory was "dry" 
by Local Option before the provincial law had been passed. 
In Ontario a plebiscite was to be taken on the issue when 
the soldiers had returned. Whether economic, or moral, or 
an indirect result, as in the United States, of war psy- 
chology, there was no doubt of the powerful effect of this 
wave of sentiment which swept away an institution of 
centuries, an industry of a hundred millions of dollars, a 
habit engrained in private life and character, an individual 
right or liberty which was almost fundamental in its nature. 
During 1917-18, also, the Dominion Government issued a 
series of regulations controlling the liquor traffic wherever 
existing — in order to prevent waste, promote thrift, con- 
serve financial resources and increase natural efficiency. 
Provincial Prohibition laws were strengthened by the pro- 
hibition of import into the Dominion, and in March, 1918, 
by the prohibition of manufacture and of traffic in liquor 
between the provinces. 

Another development of a different nature but of essen- 
tially war-time character was the sudden and uncalled-for 
yet general grant of voting rights to women. Most of the 
provinces fell into line, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, 
Manitoba and Ontario ; the Dominion gave the vote to sol- 
diers ' wives and near relations, and finally, in 1918, a full 
and equal franchise to all women ; Quebec remained firm in 
its opposition. 

The Banks in Canada had much to do with the prosperity 
and progressive action and policy of the Dominion in these 
years. They upheld public and private credit so that busi- 
ness ran smoothly and capital could adjust itself to new 



WAK ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 339 

and strange conditions; they preserved to the country a 
stability of character and reputation which was of national 
importance, of Imperial and war value; they contributed 
largely and generously to all public war objects and, in 
short, guided the financial ship of state with patriotic feel- 
ing and business skill. The Canadian system had proved 
an excellent one in times of peace, suited to a sparsely- 
settled and far-flung country, capable of maintaining a 
flexible supply of money for changing seasons, fitted for 
the transfer of the surplus in one section to meet the needs 
of another perhaps 3,000 miles away. It also proved its 
effectiveness in these strenuous years of war. After the 
first critical days of August, 1914, the confidence of Cana- 
dians in their system had been complete and their deposits 
on demand and notice increased from $1,012,739,990 on 
December 31, 1914, to $1,144,680,651 at the close of 1915, 
to $1,303,215,134 in 1916, to $1,565,319,884 in 1917, to 
$1,669,507,617 in 1918 ; a total increase of deposits in four 
years of war of over $600,000,000. The fact that this great 
increase took place in face of 5 or 5^ per cent war bonds, 
and at an average interest rate of only 3 per cent, spoke 
volumes for popular support of the Banks. 

Meantime, also. Bank clearings, after a partial collapse 
in the first war-months, grew with the development of war 
business and production and at the end of each year 
the total was as follows: 1915, $7,797,430,809; 1916, 
$10,557,060,950; 1917, $12,469,426,435; 1918, $13,776,332,726. 
A natural tendency of these years of curtailment in expen- 
ditures and shortage in men was a halt in the creation of 
Bank branches — a check in the tremendous organization 
of offices which had gone on during the previous decade and 
which now proceeded on sedate lines during the war years 
from 3,047 in 1914 (December 31) to 3,087 in 1915, 3,116 in 
1916, and 3,214 in 1917. Meanwhile, the Canadian Bankers' 
Association, of which E. L. Pease of the Eoyal Bank of 
Canada was President, became a war-power in the country 



240 CANADA AT WAR 

through its co-operation and loyal support of Government 
policy and the Finance Minister. The Banks had advanced 
in 1916 $100,000,000 to the Imperial authorities for muni- 
tions ; six Banks, a little later, loaned $20,000,000 additional 
as a sort of syndicate for buying wheat and storing it over 
the winter; in January, 1917, the Banks bought Canadian 
treasury bills for $50,000,000, maturing early in 1918; in 
July and August another $70,000,000 of 31/2 months' bills, 
and in October $75,000,000, which matured in 1919; they 
facilitated the sale of $1,000,000,000 of Canadian securities 
in the Canadian market, lent money to customers for this 
purpose and lost, inevitably, a portion of their deposits, 
which may or may not have come back to the individual 
bank in other forms ; toward the close of 1917 they gave a 
credit to the Imperial Government, through the Wheat 
Export Company, of $100,000,000 for the purchase of grain 
while a further sum of $80,000,000 was placed at the dis- 
posal of British representatives for the purchase of cheese, 
bacon and other foodstuffs; they financed munition and 
war-supply plants, held the wheels of trade and credit and 
production firm, helped shipbuilding, encouraged thrift, 
preached caution, practiced economy ; they aided the Minis- 
ter of Agriculture in the promotion of production and the 
expansion of live-stock, and lent money to the farmers on 
crops and live-stock under new Parliamentary enactments ; 
contributed largely year by year to the Patriotic Fund, the 
British and Canadian Red Cross, Belgian Relief, the 
Y. M. C. A., etc., and purchased or offered to do so, large 
blocks of War loans. The enlistment from Bank staffs was 
large, representative, spontaneous, and ran from an assis- 
tant general manager to thousands of junior clerks — the 
total to January, 1918, being 7,741 out of a male staff of 
17,674 at the beginning of the war. 

A most important matter during these years in its effects 
upon trade, finance, politics, and general prosperity was 
that of the purchase of war supplies for Great Britain or 



WAR ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 241 

the Allies, or for the Canadian Grovernment, apart from 
munitions, which are dealt with separately. The totals 
were large and conditions of purchase or production were 
made difficult by the haste which prevailed everywhere in 
the first six months of the struggle; over-payments, mis- 
takes due to inexperience, individual corrupt practices 
amongst some of the many contractors, were almost 
unavoidable. Data as to the exact totals of these purchases 
can only be approximate because, in most cases, the Allied 
Governments bought on their own accounts and the British 
Government also did so at times. During January, 1915, a 
British order for $4,000,000 worth of clothing was allotted 
to a number of Montreal firms ; a little later F. W. Stobart, 
British purchasing agent, stated that he had ordered 
1,000,000 canvas mess-tin covers from firms in Montreal, 
Ottawa, and Winnipeg; other orders given by him at this 
time included 200,000 woollen undershirts, 300,000 razors, 
500,000 yards of white flannel, 14,000 flannel shirts, 50,000 
packs, and 50,000 haversacks. 

It was officially stated in February that in the previous 
six months of war the Militia Department had purchased 
$18,500,000 worth of supplies for the Canadian forces 
besides harness, saddlery, blankets, etc., for British and 
Allied Governments totalling $64,000,000 in value. The 
number of contracts entered into was estimated at 10,000. 
Other orders followed rapidly. A Walkerville firm obtained 
a large contract for uniforms and clothing ; orders for about 
50,000,000 buttons, altogether, were given; 2,000 box-cars 
were ordered by the Russian Government ; the Wm. Davies 
Company, Ltd., which had been handling large Allied orders 
for canned meats since the beginning of the conflict, received 
enormous orders during the next two years. France, in 
1915, contracted for 2,000 box-cars and 1,000 coal-cars from 
the Eastern Car Co., and Russia ordered fifty locomotives 
from the Canadian Locomotive Co. The Department of 
Militia, through its Acting Minister, Senator Lougheed, 



242 CANADA AT WAR 

issued a statement in July of that year to the effect that 
France had ordered through the Canadian Government 
450,000 army blankets, 20,000 complete sets of saddlery, 
20,000 saddle blankets, 20,000 sets of artillery harness, and 
20,000 driving whips, with also 20,000 saddlery sets ordered 
by the Russian Government. In August, 1915, the Depart- 
ment of Trade and Commerce published a list of purchases 
to date made by the British Government through the Cana- 
dian authorities, and including $5,000,000 for harness and 
saddlery, $10,000,000 for clothing and hosiery, $23,000,000 
for articles of food. In September orders valued at 
$7,000,000 came from Italy and Russia for blankets. So 
with France and succeeding orders for flour, railway roll- 
ing stock, frozen meat supplies, sectional wooden houses, 
etc. During 1916 Italy and Russia bought large supplies of 
locomotives, motor cars, railway sleepers, flannel goods and 
drugs. And so it went in 1917 and 1918, with increasing 
quantities and values. 

Meanwhile, the supplies rushed to Valcartier by the 
Militia Department during the first whirling months of war 
had come in for Opposition attack and criticism — espe- 
cially in the matter of boots. The net result of inquiries 
by a Special Commission and a Committee of the Commons 
was that the boots might have been better, and in some 
cases were bad, but that the Department did reasonably 
well under difficult conditions of strain and inexperience, 
and the necessity for speed. Scandals were heard in other 
connections — horses, drugs, field glasses, etc. — and some 
sordid charges were proven correct. Sir Robert Borden 
compelled two members of his own party in the Commons 
to resign their seats, and took high ground on the necessity 
of punishing such conduct; Sir Charles Davidson was 
appointed as a sort of traveling Judicial Coimnission to 
investigate conditions all over Canada in respect to Gov- 
ernment contracts and supplies and, during 1915, did much 
careful work ; a House of Commons Committee reported as 



WAK ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 243 

to the necessity for inaugurating ''a system of purchase, 
inspection and audit that will adequately protect the coun- 
try from irregularities and frauds ' ' and urged that legisla- 
tion be enacted along such lines. 

The chief trouble seemed to be with middlemen seeking 
to make and increase profits ; war, country, business honour, 
were in such cases put aside as of no importance in the 
pathway of personal gain. One of the great Government 
difficulties was the patronage list which existed under both 
parties and was said to include 8,000 persons or firms in all 
parts of Canada who, on the recommendation of local mem- 
bers of Parliament, had some sort of claim on Government 
contracts. That the Militia Department under these cir- 
cumstances had handled $50,000,000 up to this time, with 
only a few thousands of expenditure to which serious excep- 
tion could be taken, was claimed as very creditable to the 
Government. By the close of 1916 this departmental 
expenditure had run up into the hundreds of millions, with 
no serious charges advanced by a most alert, vigilant 
Opposition. By this time, also, the purchases of war sup- 
plies in Canada for the Dominion Government and for the 
British and Allied Governments had grown to very large 
dimensions. Following the Premier's 1915 action as to 
charges of corruption in the purchase of supplies he had 
appointed in May of that year the Hon. A. E. Kemp, G. F. 
Gait and H. Laporte as a War Purchasing Commission 
with complete control over this very large and vital part 
of the Government's contracts and expenditure. The ardu- 
ous work of this body was done quietly but there were few 
public complaints and no scandals; in Canada this was a 
great practical tribute to the standing and policy of the 
Commission which had to award immense contracts in 
boots, woollen and knitted goods, uniforms, socks, saddlery, 
clothing, etc., for a constantly growing army. There were 
no further scandals in this connection — political or 
otherwise. 



344 CANADA AT WAR 

Another important War issue with an indirect economic 
importance and affecting many individuals in the country- 
was the sentiment and action of foreign-born aliens or 
citizen»s and their treatment by the Government. According 
to the 1911 Census there were 752,000 foreign-born inhabit- 
ants of Canada, of whom 160,000 were Germans and Aus- 
trians. The usual calculation in this connection, and the 
figures usually taken from the Census, deal with origins — 
not actual birthplaces of living persons — and they afford 
much larger totals. By country of origin there were 393,000 
Germans in Canada in 1911 and 129,000 Austro-Hungarians. 
Under these conditions the County of Waterloo, Ontario, 
had 36,567 of a German population and the City of Berlin 
a German population of 10,633 out of its total 15,196, though 
there were, in that city, only 1,258 persons actually born in 
Germany. Alberta had 63,000 Austrians and Germans, 
Manitoba 64,000, Ontario 203,000, Saskatchewan 110,000. 
There was in these years occasional trouble with such aliens, 
or citizens, as the case might be, some unpleasant instances 
of expressed hostility, various cases of seditious utterances 
and occasional fears of overt action or dislike to working 
with or beside enemy aliens. These conditions were shown 
in the Mines at Porcupine and at Fernie and were illus- 
trated in Toronto by the Nerlich case. Upon the whole, 
however, a most generous public view of alien enemies was 
shown in their treatment at Internment Camps, in the Gov- 
ernment's unwillingness to send individuals there for any- 
thing but the most obvious offences, in the immunity of 
Berlin, Ontario, during two years, from the presence of a 
Eegistrar of Alien Enemies, in the continued publication of 
German papers throughout Canada, in the retention of Ger- 
mans in positions of a public, business and even Gx)vern- 
ment nature. Nowhere was this generosity more clearly 
expressed than in the judgments of the Courts. The Judges 
and juries alike seemed averse to convictions for high 
treason, or for sedition, and tempered justice with more 



WAE ECONOMICS AND CONDITIONS IN CANADA 245 

than mercy upon occasion — as in the case of Emil Nerlich. 
In the West there were many such trials and not very much 
punishment, excepting through the Internment Camps which 
gradually accumulated several thousand prisoners. West- 
ern journals such as Der Nordwesten and West Canada of 
Winnipeg, Der Courier of Eegina and Der Herold of 
Eegina, were not always friendly to the Allied cause and 
in their presentation of news were inclined to be 
pro-German. 

Upon the whole, however, the German population of 
Canada in 1914-18 was quiet, industrious, inoffensive, sur- 
rounded by people and controlled by Governments who did 
not seek for trouble or try to find sedition where it merely 
slumbered; the only overt action being the disfranchise- 
ment of enemy aliens in 1917. What would have happened 
if there had been an invasion from their kin in the United 
States or a sweeping of the seas by the German Navy is 
another matter and a purely speculative one. The pro- 
longed controversies in Berlin, Ontario, or Kitchener as it 
afterwards became, seemed to indicate that there was a 
feeling lying dormant which could be aroused and 
expressed; there, as elsewhere, German pastors and 
teachers and writers from the United States were largely 
responsible. The action of the Government in steadily 
excluding — a few at a time — a mass of American-German 
literature and newspapers which came in from the United 
States helped in the avoidance of trouble and in preventing 
any open outbreak of hostility amongst the 700,000 persons 
of hostile origin in Canada. The fact that there was no 
open trouble during these trying years was important and 
proved that a process of incorporation into and with the 
Canadian people was surely progressing — in the West as 
amongst the long-settled German portions of Ontario. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WAR GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK OF THE PEOPLE 

In these years of war Canada contributed largely of 
money, supplies, products, labour. It was not, perhaps, all 
that its people could have offered in a period of great 
wealth-producing activities ; but in effect it was excelled by 
no other part of the Empire in either personal labour or 
individual generosity. The English-speaking population of 
the country was not more than 5,000,000. To the Canadian 
Patriotic, Belgian Eelief and Red Cross Funds, to Hospital, 
Regimental and Special Funds, to Y. M. C. A. and miscel- 
laneous war-calls the people gave at least $95,000,000, of 
which the great bulk was in personal and not Government 
contributions ; to the indirect aid of war charities and war 
interests the women of Canada gave, according to an esti- 
mate by the Prime Minister, $40,000,000 more — without 
publicity or advertisement; to the conduct of the War in 
recruiting, training and maintenance of troops the country 
gave in varied forms of Government expenditures, liability 
and Debt-increase a total of $1,436,000,000 or $192 per 
capita; to the British Government it lent for special Muni- 
tion purchases a total of $100,000,000 over and above spe- 
cial advances from Britain. There was, of course, an 
obvious though indirect return in the manufacture and sale 
of munitions, or other war supplies to Britain and her 
Allies, which ran ahead of the entire total of war contribu- 
tions. In the premises, however, the contributions were 
voluntary without direct return, or indeed thought of 
return; in the other case it was a matter of business, and 
if Canadians got the profits and handled the money they 
also did the work and provided the goods. 

There was a splendid swing about the collections for 
Patriotic and Red Cross funds in all these years, which 

[246] 



WAE GIFTS AND i»ATRIOTIC WORK 247 

reflected credit upon the system and the persons engaged 
as well as upon the generosity and sympathy of those who 
gave. The Canadian Patriotic Fund had the warm and con- 
tinuous support of H. E. H. the Duke of Connaught as its 
President and then of H. E. the Duke of Devonshire and the 
active efforts of Sir H. B. Ames, m.p., as its Hon.- 
Secretary; it was provided to meet the needs of wives, 
families and dependent relatives of those who had gone to 
the Front and to supplement the Pension and allowance 
arrangements of the Dominion Grovernment. To it in the 
first five months of war Montreal gave $1,600,000 and 
Toronto $985,000 ; Winnipeg $722,000 and Ottawa $373,000, 
with $808,000 more from Hamilton, Halifax, London, 
Ottawa and Vancouver. In these totals were included 
$100,000 each from the Bank of Montreal and the C.P.R. ; 
$50,000 each from the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the 
Royal Bank of Canada; the City of Montreal voted 
$150,000, Quebec City gave $20,000, Toronto and Ottawa 
voted $50,000 each, and Halifax $25,000. 

Under the regulations defined in June, 1915, the Fund 
provided in an average case that the wife could receive 
$1.00 per day or $30.00 a month for herself; $7.50 per 
month for one child between 10 and 15 years old ; $4.50 for 
one child between 5 and 10 years old ; $3.00 per month for 
one child under 5 years; special allowances for other 
dependent relatives in actual residence and for temporary 
need such as accident, sickness, etc. — a gross estimated 
average amount of $45, less Government separation allow- 
ance of $20.00, and wages paid to or earnings received by 
members of the family. Originally initiated for 50,000 men 
it was found by August, 1915, after a year of war, that 
the needs and activities of the Fund were required for 
200,000 men with the total steadily increasing and 25,000 
families then under relief ; that the $5,000,000 collected by 
that time would soon disappear and that $6,000,000 more 
would be wanted in the succeeding year ; that the estimated 



248 CANADA AT WAR 

expenditures for the year ending August, 1916, would be 
nearly $8,000,000. As a matter of fact the disbursements 
of 1916 totalled $9,664,991, with receipts up to the close of 
that year amounting to $18,373,494 and a balance on hand 
of $4,000,000. During 1917 over $15,000,000 was collected 
for the Fund with 50,000 families dependent upon it at the 
beginning of the year. In the Toronto campaign of 1917 a 
four-days' effort to obtain 2V2 millions brought $3,300,000; 
in Montreal a similar campaign and objective evoked 
$4,290,000 — including a $1,000,000 grant from the city. 
The rich men everywhere gave generously, the poorer in 
proportion. Up to the close of 1918 the total contribu- 
tions — excluding Manitoba in the main as it had a separate 
Provincial organization — for all Canada were $45,411,078 
of which Alberta gave $2,769,598, British Columbia 
$3,231,284, Manitoba (direct) $140,864, New Brunswick 
$1,385,983, Nova Scotia $1,779,890, Ontario $23,551,610, 
Prince Edward Island $128,638 , Quebec $9,660,537, Sas- 
katchewan $2,717,014, Yukon and North West Territories 
$45,656. 

Much of the money needed for this Fund, and for the 
three special Dominion-wide appeals made for the British 
Eed Cross Society which yielded a response of about 
$6,600,000, were obtained through local campaigns such as 
are referred to above and held in the larger centres of 
Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, etc. Leading business men 
like J. W. McConnell and W. M. Birks in Montreal, or 
E. E. Wood and Fred. Nicholls in Toronto, acted as Captains 
of teams which included other business or professional men 
and they devoted from one to four days in a persistent 
visitation of persons in allotted districts, in explanation of 
the need and of personal and patriotic reasons for gener- 
osity, in the collection of pledges and cash. Some of these 
organizations were wonderfully effective in the thorough 
nature of their preparations, advocacy and operation. The 
British Eed Cross appeals were special ones ; the Canadian 




(By courtesy Canadian War Records.) 

Cambrai Cathedral 









S 



WAK GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 349 

Red Cross was a continuous and established organization 
working with headquarters at Toronto under direction 
from time to time of Surgeon-General Sterling Ryerson, 
Sir John Gibson, Colonel G. A. Sweeny, Hon. Colonel Noel 
Marshall, Senator James Mason, Mrs. A. M. Plumptre and 
others during four long years of continuous effort. 
Branches were formed all over Canada, totalling at the 
close of 1917, 772 in number and at the end of the War 
1,403. Immense numbers of hospital garments and quanti- 
ties of medical supplies, clothing, etc., were sent to London. 
These supplies increased steadily from year to year 
throughout the War in accordance with the ever-growing 
demand and initial figures for the few months up to the end 
of December, 1914, indicate the nature of the work. In this 
brief time the various articles shipped to London included 
50,000 bandages, 20,000 blankets, 17,000 pillows, 40,000 
shirts, 25,000 pairs of socks and about 24,000 other knitted 
items in a total of 733,000 garments. Supplies of cocoa, 
chocolate, arrowroot, cornstarch, jellies, lemons, oranges, 
sweaters, cholera belts, sleeping caps, pyjamas, socks, coal- 
oil stoves, and many other articles, were sent to Hospitals 
at Valcartier and Quebec. Twelve motor ambulances were 
purchased and five Hospitals attached to the 1st Contingent 
were equipped with Red Cross necessaries. The women of 
Calgary contributed a motor ambulance as did a number of 
individuals. 

Meantime, Lieut.-Colonel Jeffrey H. Burland, of Mon- 
treal, had been appointed Commissioner of the Canadian 
Red Cross Society in London; upon his sudden death 
Lieut.-Colonel C. A. Hodgetts, m.d., of Ottawa, acceded to 
the post; in 1918 H. Blaylock succeeded Colonel Hodgetts. 
During the two years following 1914 the scope of operations 
of the Society were immensely increased — the funds col- 
lected up to the end of 1915 being $1,100,000 with returns 
of $900,000 more during 1916. The organization was in 
full operation as a Branch of the British Red Cross Society, 
17 



350 CANADA AT WAR 

•wMch was accepted by all civilized nations for the relief of 
sick and wounded soldiers or sailors and prisoners of war; 
it co-operated with the Army Medical Service in England 
and at the Front by collecting supplementary supplies for 
the military hospitals — for use when a great battle should 
exhaust the ordinary supplies ; it provided additional motor 
ambulances, field kitchens and hospital trains ; it undertook 
the special care and equipment of the Duchess of Connaught 
Hospital at Cliveden with its 1,000 beds ; it appointed Lady 
Drummond as head of a most useful aid and information 
department associated with the general work in London. 
Supplies in ever larger quantities were forwarded from 
Canada and, fortnightly, there went from London packages 
to over 2,000 Canadian prisoners of war in Germany, while 
all wounded Canadians at the Front or in Britain benefited 
from the comforts sent. Money also was required and 
obtained to pay for the services of trained nurses and 
orderlies in special co-operation with the St. John 
Ambulance Brigade. 

While this general work was going on hundreds of new 
branches were organized in Canada during the years of 
war, together with a large number of auxiliary societies in 
places too small to establish branches ; a monthly Bulletin 
of information and suggestion was issued with hundreds of 
thousands of copies of pamphlets along similar lines; 
arrangements were made with the Eailways and Express 
Companies under which nearly all Red Cross supplies, cloth- 
ing, etc., were carried free — constituting a generous con- 
tribution in bulk to the funds of the Society; the Peak Hotel 
Hospital at Buxton was got under way by the Society 
through its representatives in England and large grants 
were made to it and other institutions; it was stated at a 
later period that the hospitals and institutions receiving 
supplies from the Canadian Society in England, France and 
other War zones numbered 100. The most important 
Canadian Red Cross Hospitals were those of Taplow, 



WAE GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 351 

Bushey Park, Buxton, Ramsgate, Petrograd (in London) 
and Joinville (near Paris). The organization provided 
thousands of hospital beds for the Canadian Medical Corps 
and sent food, tobacco and clothing to the value of 
$1,430,000. The regular staff were all volunteers and vis- 
ited Canadians in Imperial Hospitals as well in those of 
Canada and provided them with necessities or luxuries to 
the extent of 450,000 parcels during the War. 

An illustration of the work actually done in Canada and 
applicable to other years and other centres was given in 
a statement by W. R. Miller of the Montreal Branch (May 
17, 1915) : ''We have sent some 15,000 cases of supplies to 
England, containing chiefly garments and surgical dress- 
ings made by the ladies of the Province. The contents of 
these cases are valued at over $100,000. We have sent four 
qualified nurses to the Front making ourselves responsible 
for their maintenance and upkeep. These ladies are now 
at Malta, tending the wounded from the Dardanelles. 
Owing to the generosity of private individuals we have sent 
two motor ambulances to France, and a third has been pro- 
vided out of our funds and presented to the 6th Field 
Ambulance Corps recruited in this city. We have con- 
tributed $12,000 to the expense of our organization in Eng- 
land and we have expended since the outbreak of War some 
$55,000 while our monthly expenditure has now reached a 
total of over $5,000." Sir F. Williams- Taylor was Hon. 
Treasurer of a special local Fund of $100,000 in Montreal 
which at this time was collected without trouble. A little 
later the total of motor ambulances sent to the Front from 
this city was twenty and in the following years these ambu- 
lances ran into the hundreds from all parts of Canada and 
the Society as a whole was sending supplies through the 
British Association to Egypt, Lemnos, the Dardanelles, 
France, Belgium and wherever British troops were fighting. 

The Canadian Hospitals which it assisted with supplies 
and comforts numbered 15 at the end of 1915 and contained 



252 CANADA AT WAR 

10,480 beds, and these figures were immensely increased in 
succeeding years. There was a Eed Cross warehouse for 
supplies in London and a large depot at Boulogne, besides 
advance stores closer to the Front for supplying the Field 
Ambulances and casualty clearing hospitals. Hundreds of 
nurses and male hospital attendants were also sent over 
from Canada and by the close of 1917 $10,000,000 worth of 
supplies or cash had been received in the Dominion for this 
organization; at the close of 1918 the total was over 
$20,000,000 which included goods or supplies valued at 
$12,600,000 and cash contributions of $7,771,000; the total 
Eed Cross collections for the whole British Empire was 
$70,000,000. 

Much was done by Canada for Belgian relief and the 
Fund constituted an always-popular appeal. Canadians 
felt deep sympathy, a sincere and unstinted admiration, for 
the gallant Belgian people. To the sufferers from German 
invasion, to the wives and widows and orphans, to the starv- 
ing population of the ravaged country, they expressed prac- 
tical as well as sentimental sympathy. A central Commit- 
tee was early formed in Montreal under the patronage of 
H.E.H. the Governor- General with M. Maurice Goor, Bel- 
gian Consul-General at Ottawa, as President of the Execu- 
tive, C. I. de Sola, Consul at Montreal, as Vice-President 
and M. Henri Prud'homme as Hon. Treasurer. On Sep- 
tember 22, 1914, an Appeal was issued to the public 
declaring that: *' The most suitable contribution in kind 
would be clothing of every description, new or old, for men, 
women and children, blankets of wool or cotton, shoes, 
flour, oatmeal, sugar, dried fruits, dried vegetables, etc." 
Many shiploads of these would be needed and contributions 
in money were to be employed for the purchase of goods in 
Canada and payment of freight to Belgium. The goods 
were consigned by the Central Executive at Montreal to the 
Belgian Minister in London who handed them over to the 
London Commission for Eelief in Belgium — a body under 



WAR GIFTS AND PATEIOTIC WORK 353 

the patronage of the Spanish and American Ambassadors 
with H. C. Hoover (an American) as Chairman and with a 
backing and membership largely United States in origin. 
This body claimed to see that all contributions and ship- 
ments reached Rotterdam in due course and were thence 
sent to Brussels and distributed under its auspices. 

It was estimated in 1914 that 1,000,000 Belgians had gone 
to England, France and Holland and were being cared for 
in those countries, that about 7,000,000 civilians remained 
in Belgium with about 80,000 tons of food a month required 
during the winter to feed this population — the inference 
being accepted that the Germans would not do so. England 
gave free passage through the North Sea for such supplies 
and the German Government agreed, eventually, not to com- 
mandeer them for its troops. The Dominion Government 
put a vote of $50,000 through Parliament for this fund and 
the Provinces — especially Nova Scotia, under the energetic 
impetus of the Hon. G. H. Murray, Prime Minister — 
organized co-operative Committees. The Alberta Govern- 
ment sent 5,000 bags of flour and the Government of Sas- 
katchewan $5,000; the Belgian Relief Fund of Winnipeg 
contributed $24,500, the Government of British Columbia 
gave $5,000, the Government of Manitoba $5,000 and the 
various Belgian Relief Committees followed with consider- 
able sums in cash or goods for shipment. Merchandise, 
goods, products, were sent to the Executive from counties 
and townships, cities and villages, farmers and business 
men, or collected by local committees. Large steamers 
were chartered and sent loaded to the deck with tons of 
supplies valued at several million dollars. The work con- 
tinued in varied forms during succeeding years with inces- 
santly active Committees, special collections and appeals, 
gifts and shipments of all kinds to an estimated total (Dec. 
19, 1918) of $1,642,104 in cash and $1,512,000 in supplies. 

A Canadian and, indeed, a world-wide organization which 
did much war work in the later stages of the conflict was 



354 CANADA AT WAR 

the Y. M. C. A. This organization appealed to many inter- 
ests and humanitarian instincts. It was essentially social, 
it was, in part, religions, it had enough business manage- 
ment and principle and practice to make and keep the Asso- 
ciation a financial success, it provided wholesome centres 
for the amusement, instruction and physical development 
of young men and it attracted, therefore, the support of 
parents and guardians and all who were interested in the 
welfare of this class. In the War it was pacific but helpful 
and its many workers throughout Canada proved enthusi- 
astic in raising money for organization abroad and in send- 
ing supplies to Britain and the Front which were sold for 
a moderate sum to the soldiers and sometimes given away 
— as with tea or coffee — to the wounded ; in politics it was 
a Prohibition organization, a moral reform agency, and did 
not, as a rule, interfere with propaganda of any other 
kind — war causes or controversies, for instance, or what is 
usually termed patriotism — though its leaders took up such 
issues as War Loans, Red Cross and Patriotic Fund sub- 
scriptions ; in religion it was a constant exponent of what 
its organ Canadian Manhood described, in October, 1917, 
as sending forth the men in Khaki "not as Canada's army 
but as representatives of Christ." 

Originally a British organization founded by the late 
Sir George Williams in London on June 6, 1844 (Montreal, 
Nov. 25, 1851 ; Boston, Dec. 29, 1851), it had spread all over 
the world and become, before the World War, a great inter- 
national factor in social and religious work. The military 
branch of the Canadian organization carried on a special 
work with Canadian troops Overseas in France or Belgium 
and had 76 centres in England — additional to the enor- 
mous number of workers in those countries under the 
auspices of the British Y. M. C. A. It had regular camps 
and units, base camps, convalescent camps and hospitals. 
In Canada there were 38 centres of operation, including 
camps, barracks. Red Triangle Clubs, hospitals, naval sta- 



WAK GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 355 

tions and troop trains. There were in 1917, 133 secretaries 
on the Overseas staff having honorary commissions in the 
C. E. F. Of these, 50 received their pay and allowances 
from the Y. M. C. A., while the remainder were paid by the 
Government. In Canada, also, 100 civilian secretaries were 
employed for military purposes by the Association. More 
than $4,500,000 was given by Canadians in voluntary con- 
tributions to aid the work during the War. The Y. M. C. A. 
had about 50,000 members in Canada ; its chief work in 1918 
was organizing the Khaki University, or educational sys- 
tem in the Army and amongst its reserves in England. 

Another Society doing good work of a war-time and 
patriotic character was the Navy League of Canada. 
Formed in June, 1917, with W. G. Ross of Montreal and 
^milius Jarvis of Toronto as the chief promoters and 
Presidents, respectively, in 1917 and 1918, its platform 
included the following policy: (1) A thoroughly organized 
educational campaign in matters pertaining to the Navy and 
Mercantile Marine by lectures, by the circulation of litera- 
ture and by placing readers in Public Schools; (2) to raise 
funds for the relief of British and Canadian sailors and 
their dependents, for Sailors' homes. Institutes and Hos- 
pitals in Canada and throughout the Empire; (3) to encour- 
age volunteer Naval Brigades for boys and young men in 
which they could receive practical and theoretical instruc- 
tion in seamanship to prepare them for service in the 
Mercantile Marine. Provincial Branches were formed 
everywhere and local Branches soon ran into the hundreds 
with a membership of 50,000 and the publication of an offi- 
cial organ called The Sailor. In 1918 a special effort for 
funds resulted in the collection of $1,700,000 while at the 
annual meeting of that year a Naval policy for Canada was 
urged which should disregard politics, be guided by Naval 
strategy and advocate the establishment of a Canadian 
Fleet standardized with that of Britain and placed in war- 
time nnder one supreme command, 



256 CANADA AT WAR 

There were many other Patriotic war organizations in 
Canada. The Knights of Columbus showed patriotism in 
various ways and in 1917 collected $80,000 in a Catholic 
Army Hut campaign which obtained $13,000,000 in the 
United States ; they collected another $1,144,000 in 1918 for 
a similar purpose. These Huts were found to be most use- 
ful and desirable amongst Catholic troops at the Front but, 
also, were thrown open to all who wished to take advantage 
of their privileges. At the close of 1918 the organization 
had Huts at all the chief Canadian Camps in England — 
Bramshott, Witley, Shorncliffe, Seaford, Rhyl, Frensham, 
Pond, Bexhill, Cooden, Buxton, Epsom and Purfleet. In 
France the work was done through Catholic Chaplains and 
tents and marquees were erected at various points in the 
Canadian lines — including the Lens sector, Bonn in Ger- 
many, etc. Writing paper, books, newspapers and maga- 
zines were supplied in large quantities. 

The Salvation Army in Canada worked in close touch 
with the British organizations and had numbers of certified 
workers and army chaplains ministering to the needs of 
the soldiers ; many motor ambulances were contributed and 
the Hostels and Huts of this peace army, on the field and 
in Great Britain, were much appreciated by the men ; relief 
work was carried on in various devastated war areas such 
as Belgium, Italy and Serbia, though it would be difficult to 
exactly differentiate the Canadian share in this respect ; the 
return of troops to Canada found the Army agents and offi- 
cials working eagerly in every direction to promote the 
comfort and well-being of the soldiers on sea and shore. 
Thousands of members enlisted and in more than one cen- 
tre when the Conscription Act came into force there were 
no Salvationists left who came within its scope; Home 
Leagues composed of women were formed in association 
with local Salvation Army Corps and they worked assidu- 
ously in Red Cross supplies, socks and woollen garments; 
Social Service Societies looked after those at home who 



WAR GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 357 

became involved in the casualty lists which brought so much 
sorrow to the homes, while much sympathetic work also was 
done in the Hospitals ; Hostels were opened for soldiers and 
returned men at Toronto, Kingston, London, Montreal, 
Halifax, St. John, Chatham, Windsor, etc.; the Women's 
Hospitals of the Army at six Canadian centres were utilized 
for the wives of Overseas men and at Toronto and Ottawa 
Homes were established for war-time orphans. The Over- 
seas Club with active branches in Toronto, Halifax and 
half a dozen other centres, but without any Canadian head- 
quarters or combined action, did good work along certain 
lines of war activity, such as a Tobacco Fund for soldiers 
and Sailors and a Fund for Prisoners of War. 

During these years the work of the women of Canada was 
generous, continuous, persistent. Everywhere, in hamlet 
and countryside, in town and city, they were busy organiz- 
ing, collecting, sewing, knitting. The Daughters of the 
Empire, perhaps, were most conspicuous because of their 
large organization; they were not any more earnest, or 
helpful individually, than thousands outside the ranks of 
that body. The Women's Institutes in country districts of 
Ontario and British Columbia and the West were energetic ; 
Women's Red Cross and Patriotic Fund branches were 
many and effective; the Toronto Women's Patriotic League 
was enthusiastic and useful in its labours as was the 
Women's Toronto Conservative Club and the Toronto 
Women 's Liberal Club. In Montreal Lady Drummond gave 
a keynote to local feeling when she said at a meeting of 
women there before leaving for England in 1915 to take up 
still wider work : * 'We shall have to give up dances, dinner 
parties, etc., and spend our money on necessaries for our 
soldiers' families, even if it means personal deprivations." 
The Women's Grain Grower Associations of the West did 
much useful work. A National Service Committee, com- 
posed of Presidents and a few other members of all the 
nationally-organized Women's Societies in Canada, acted 



258 CANADA AT WAR 

usefully as a channel through which field comforts were 
sent to the Canadian War Contingent Association in Lon- 
don and in preventing confusion or overlapping amongst 
the many Associations working throughout Canada. 

The Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire, under 
Mrs. A. E, Gooderham's leadership, with 700 Chapters and 
40,000 members, did splendid service. Its early initiative 
had, in 1914, obtained the fund for a Hospital Ship which 
totalled $283,107 and of which, eventually the British Army 
Council received $100,000 for the purchase of 40 motor 
ambulance cars for use at the Front or in England, while 
the Naval authorities accepted $182,000 to build the Cana- 
dian Women's Block of the Hospital at Haslar, near Ports- 
mouth. Following this incident and indeed during all the 
war-years each Chapter of the Order became a centre of 
local work and patriotism; in this they often had the 
active co-operation of the National Council of Women's 
branches, the local W. C. T. U., the Women's Institute and 
other Women's organizations. Families of hastily-called 
soldiers and volunteers were looked after and personally 
visited ; comforts of every kind made or purchased, given or 
despatched, for either local troops or the general body of 
men ; Belgian, Eed Cross and other Funds were loyally and 
earnestly supported by personal gifts or collections and by 
the proceeds of flag-days, concerts, entertainments, lectures, 
bazaars ; where troops were concentrated for training, etc., 
local reading or recreation rooms were established, enter- 
tainments given, temperance canteens organized; money 
was sometimes raised for special objects such as Motor 
ambulances and everywhere the members of the Order flung 
themselves into some form of patriotic work and this 
included the making, or giving, or shipment of socks, 
sleeping-caps, flannels, woollen belts, wristlets, *' house- 
wives," cholera belts, mufflers, cigarettes, pipes and tobacco, 
books and magazines, soap, chocolate, candies and an 
infinite variety of similar supplies and comforts, 



WAR GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 359 

In connection with Bed Cross work the supplies furnished 
by this Order were equally varied and included such neces- 
saries or comforts as chloroform, ether, ammonia and 
iodine, rubber sheeting and tubing, adhesive plaster and 
atomizers. The variety of gifts was infinite and included, 
also respirators, sand-bags, electric torches, hot-water bags, 
ambulance rugs, blankets, plum puddings, surgical instru- 
ments, mouth-organs, cases of castor oil, bandages of every 
kind, fracture pillows, hair pillows, feather pillows, linen, 
old and new, comfort bags, games of cards, puzzles, chess, 
Victrolas and records. The total value of contributions by 
the I. 0. D. E. during these war-years was estimated at 
$5,000,000. The National Council of Women, the Victorian 
Order of Nurses, the Girl Guides, the Alumnae of the Uni- 
versities, also were active in different forms of war-work; 
the National Ladies' Guild for British and Foreign Sailors 
under Lady Willison of Toronto ; Queen Mary's Needlework 
Guild, a British institution organized in Canada by Miss 
C. Welland Merritt did excellent work in different ways; 
2,400 women went Overseas as Nurses in the C. E. P. and 
served in England, France, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, and 
Russia. They were posted for duty in base hospitals, clear- 
ing stations, ambulance trains and hospital ships, and there 
were also 527 on duty in Canada. They had war casualties 
of 18 deaths by bombs or submarines with 15 dead of dis- 
ease. The Canadian V. A. D. 's. on active service were 342, 
and the honours awarded to Nurses, etc., from Canada 
included 4 Military Medals and 192 Royal Red Cross Medals 
of the 1st and 2nd class. 

In these and other ways much was done and done weU; 
women in every grade of life and labour did something, gave 
something, helped in some way ; if there were a number who 
were ignorant or selfish or indifferent the proportion was 
less than amongst the men. Society everywhere was very 
quiet after August, 1914, and through the succeeding years ; 
display in dress and luxury in entertaimnent, or expendi- 



360 CANADA AT WAR 

ture, were abandoned very largely, or at least upon the sur- 
face. The domestic labour problem, too, became very 
complex and difficult as so many working women came into 
incomes which relieved them from the absolute necessity 
of outside work while, also, large numbers of young girls 
became independent through their marriage with men going 
to the Front, and others found the monetary rewards of 
factories and munition work far beyond those of domestic 
service. The problem directly affected social and war 
conditions. Many women found that they had to do house- 
work and look after their children as well as perform 
patriotic duties; many younger and unattached women in 
sudden possession of large wages gave little time to any 
work of a patriotic character. As a matter of statistics the 
women in Munition work ran to a total of 20,000 at one 
time ; thousands of women did voluntary work on the farms 
during the Food production campaigns and more than 1,000 
young women were employed in the Eoyal Air Force ; about 
5,000 women were employed in Civil Service work of a war 
character, while 75,000 gave their services in the compilation 
of the National Register in June, 1918. 

A movement which appealed to many persons and 
received a most generous response sprang out of the whis- 
pered need, early in 1915, for more machine guns at the 
Front. It was announced in January that the Judges of 
the Appellate and High Courts at Toronto had subscribed 
a sufficient amount to provide an automatic machine gun 
complete, with spare parts, accessories and ammunition, 
which they intended to present to the Osgoode Hall Rifle 
Association. At the same time John C. Eaton of Toronto 
donated $100,000 for the purchase of an armoured train of 
40 powerful motor trucks, armed with Colt automatic guns 
and to be manned by a detail of 200 men. To Col. W. S. 
Hughes' Battalion at Kingston the officials of the Peniten- 
tiary presented two Machine guns in April ; J. B. and Mrs. 
Fraser of Ottawa donated three additional guns to the 8th 



WAR GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 261 

C. M. R. ; on June 8 Huntley R. Drummond of Montreal for- 
warded the Government a cheque for $100,000 to provide 
125 Maxim guns for the Expeditionary Force, in addi- 
tion to the complement to be supplied by the Militia Depart- 
ment. A similar donation of $100,000 by James Carruthers 
of Montreal was also announced. 

Then the popular wave began to move. On July 6, and 
within a few days following, a number of Vancouver gentle- 
men subscribed $1,000 each for the purchase of machine 
guns for a local Battalion and $30,000 was collected; 
Victoria followed suit with funds for sixteen guns; on 
July 17 a semi-official despatch in the press from Ottawa 
stated that donations should be over and above the ordinary 
Government complement of four guns to a Battalion and 
that the money should be sent to the Department of 
Finance. The movement spread rapidly and Mr. Lougheed, 
Acting Minister of Militia, stated that the Government 
would increase the official complement from four to eight 
guns in each Battalion. In rapid succession there followed 
the announcements that St. John business men had collected 
money to supply nine guns for the 26th Battalion ; that 40 
machine guns had been subscribed by Western localities, 
ranging from Peace River Crossing to Calgary and Edmon- 
ton, for the army or for local battalions; that at a great 
mass-meeting in Toronto and in the presence of Sir George 
Foster, Acting Prime Minister of Canada, a contribution 
of $500,000 for the purchase of 500 guns was offered by the 
Government of Ontario; that the citizens of Halifax had 
raised the money for 20 guns and Cape Breton Island for 
30; that the citizens of London had collected funds for 20 
guns, Orillia 10, Brantford 21, Hamilton 175, Quebec 23, 
Montreal 75. It was estimated early in September, when 
Sir Sam Hughes returned from England, that $1,500,000 
had been subscribed. Then something happened. The 
Minister apparently did not approve of the movement and 
further collections were checked with a total in hand on 



262 CANADA AT WAE 

April 5, 1916, after certain amounts liad been returned to 
subscribers, of $1,265,000. 

Another interesting form of Canadian aid in the "War was 
the gift of Aeroplanes. Like that of machine guns it was 
a concrete reality to the average man or corporation; 
though it did not attain the same popularity. In Montreal, 
on July 17-20, Gr. R. Lighthall, Hon. Secretary of the Over- 
seas Club, had letters in the press urging Canadian sub- 
scriptions to aid that organization in its work for an 
Aircraft Flotilla. It appeared that H.M. the King was 
Patron, that the Army Council approved of the movement, 
that the cost of an approved aeroplane ran from $7,500 to 
$11,000. The Star opened a Fund in Montreal to which 
Robert Hampson contributed $10,768, and the Board of 
Trade, largely through the efforts of G. F. Benson, Presi- 
dent, a total of $13,062 ; the British Empire Grain Co. con- 
tributed $10,750 and other sums were collected, making a 
total of $42,480 or enough to buy four aeroplanes. Elsewhere 
Major R. W. Leonard of St. Catharines gave $7,500 for a 
Biplane, the Province of Nova Scotia $11,250 for a gun- 
mounted machine and W. J. Gage, Toronto, offered $10,000 
for the same purpose. Still another source of activity was 
the Overseas Club and its Tobacco Fund. Up to September 
30, 1915, the total collected in Canada was $56,000 and the 
work proceeded steadily during the ensuing year. So with 
the Seamen's Hospital Fund and the British and Foreign 
Sailors' Society, and the British Blue Cross Fund. 

The religious interests of Canada took a deep and prac- 
tical interest, as a whole, in the War. There were excep- 
tions, of course, where the inherent, inherited Pacifism of 
a century made militancy impossible even in a great Empire 
crisis; there were good people who thought more of pre- 
venting cigarettes reaching Canadian soldiers than of 
providing men and munitions to fight the enemy ; there were 
men in all churches and a few pastors, also, affected 
by secular inJfluences which discouraged recruiting. The 



WAE GIFTS AND PATKIOTIC WOEK 263 

Eoman Catholic Church was the most mimerous of Canadian 
religious divisions and it worked by individuals rather than 
in any organized form; though its head was international, 
with a constant prayer for peace, leaders in England such 
as Cardinal Bourne, Father Vaughan or the Duke of Nor- 
folk, and in Canada such as Archbishop Sinnott, Arch- 
bishop Bruchesi, Bishop Fallon, Archbishop Casey or 
Archbishop McNeil, were earnest in patriotic utterance and 
work. Methodism, with its million adherents in Canada 
and its reputation for clear and consistent advocacy of 
Peace, was foremost in work for the War. The Eev. Dr. 
Carman, Dr. Chown, Dr. Hincks, were unceasing in their 
appeals to the people to think and act; the Christian 
Guardian, during two years, published listsi of Ministers' 
sons who had volunteered for the Front and who bore such 
names as Chown, Burns, Creighton, Crews, Moore, Eose, 
Burwash, Crummy and Bowles. 

From the Church of England much, naturally, was 
expected ; much was given by her million people. They had 
been specially trained in loyalty to British connection while 
the Church herself owed her birth, and much of her develop- 
ment in Canada, to the Mother-church in the Old Land. 
Bishop Eichardson of Fredericton was specially active in 
his speeches while Archbishop Matheson of Winnipeg sent 
a son to the Front and Principal Lloyd of Saskatoon three 
sons, the Eev. Dr. F. Gr. Scott of Quebec was a militant and 
gallant figure at the Front ; it was estimated that fifty per 
cent of all Canadian recruits belonged to this Church. 
Presbyterianism was represented in the trenches by Eev. 
Dr. C. W. Gordon and Eev. Dr. John Pringle, and in elo- 
quent appeals for men and still more men by Eev. Dr. W. T. 
Herridge, Eev. J. J. McCaskill and many others, and by a 
Eesolution of its General Assembly declaring that: *'We 
consider the precipitation of this conflict has been a crime 
against humanity, and that the force which is arrayed 
against us in ruthless and savage warfare threatens the 



264 CANADA AT WAE 

progress of Christianity and the very existence of civiliza- 
tion." Many Ministers — Presbyterian and Methodist 
chiefly — volunteered for active service as privates. As to 
the Chaplain service at the Front, Capt. C. G. D. Roberts 
in a letter published on February 10, 1917, declared that the 
Canadian Service had been ''so successful, so rich in 
results, and conducted along such broadly humane lines, 
that it is impossible to do it justice. " As to the rest : 

The organization as a whole guards the interests 
of each communion ; and guards them impartially. 
The representatives of the different Churches upon 
the establishment is strictly proportionate to the 
strength of their membership among the troops. 
That Church whichever it may be, which sends the 
smallest number of its adherents into the field, 
naturally requires the smallest representation. 
Any form of sectarian propaganda is firmly ruled 
out ... It would be contrary to the whole self- 
sacrificing spirit of the CCS. to single out by 
name any of those who have distinguished them- 
selves by deeds of individual heroism. In some 
cases such achievements have received official rec- 
ognition. In other cases they have escaped or 
evaded such recognition. 

The Universities of Canada acted with an almost surpris- 
ing patriotism. Some of them had stood for a sort of 
cosmopolitan culture which, in atmosphere at least, had 
rather patronised patriotism as being a local product, some- 
thing outside the curriculum and quite apart from the 
sphere of a great institution of learning. Germany and the 
United States afforded ideals which were thought to require 
cultivation as they undoubtedly did afford vital elements of 
scientific research and philosophic learning. Queen's of 
Kingston might lead in constructive Imperialism through 
the late Principal Grant, or McGill of Montreal might hold 
aloft a banner of Empire unity through Principal Peterson, 
but Toronto, in particular, preferred to hold the balance on 
great public issues. It allowed the students to listen with 
impartial attention to Henri Bourassa or to Lord Milner, 



WAR GIFTS AND PATRIOTIC WORK 365 

to enjoy J. S. Ewart's academic separatism or Alfred 
Noyes' peace ideals, to avoid the formation of military 
organizations, or Canadian Clubs, or Empire Societies 
amongst its members. 

With the coming of war everything changed. From Hali- 
fax to Vancouver, with one or two exceptions, such as the 
Hagarty incident in Toronto and, later on, the Robinson 
episode at Knox, there was general light and leading in 
war-thought and war-work, in patriotic feeling and action. 
The University of Toronto was not as well prepared in 
matters of military readiness as McGill but it very soon 
ran the historic Montreal institution closely in a patriotic 
rivalry which was well maintained throughout the War. By 
December 9, 1914, this University had nearly 100 men on 
Salisbury Plain; many at Exhibition Park in training for 
the Front and others in different camps throughout the 
country; 1,800 men were in the Officers' Training Corps 
with 80 members of the Faculty acting as officers and hun- 
dreds of others in the Corps waiting for a chance to go 
to the Front. By March, 1915, 307 undergraduates had 
enlisted and a General Hos-pital of 1,040 beds, which after- 
wards won distinction at Salonika and elsewhere, was under 
organization with $50,000 collected for its equipment and 
the provision of supplies of varied nature. Out of 4,000 
registered students there were at the close of 1915, 811 
enlisted men together with 1,003 graduates and 82 members 
of the Staff. By the end of 1918 the University of Toronto 
had sent on active service from its staff and former staffs, 
its graduates, undergraduates and former students and its 
Faculty of Education, 5,308 men; its killed or dead on 
Service totalled 531, its wounded, missing, etc., were stated 
at 867, while 242 of its enlisted strength had been mentioned 
in despatches with 495 winning decorations which included 
the following: V.C. 1; C.B. 6; C.M.G. 22; K.C.V.O. 1; 
D.S.O. 69, and M.C. 245. Many of the latter had bars and 
there were flying Honours, etc., in addition. 
18 



266 CANADA AT WAB 

Other Ontario Universities in the first years sent about 
900 men on active service ; McGill of Montreal contributed 
a General Hospital Unit as did Laval, the French-Canadian 
institution, and the former also sent 1,318 graduates, under- 
graduates and staff to the Front; other Eastern institu- 
tions, chiefly Maritime Province Universities, contributed 
900 more men and officers; the Western response to the 
war-call was instant and large and the total for all Canada 
up to the beginning of 1916 was 5,000 graduates on active 
service from Universities and colleges and 170 members of 
the various staffs. In 1916-18 there was a steady stream 
of enlistment from these institutions ^- especially into the 
Princess Patricias. By the close of the War, according to 
an estimate supplied to the writer by Sir Eobert Falconer 
of Toronto University, the Canadian graduates or under- 
graduates on active service, totalled 17,000 at least with 
probably 1,200 fatal casualties. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE FEENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAE 

To Canada the Province of Quebec and its people pre- 
sented a rather difficult problem during certain War con- 
troversies and conditions of these years. The average 
French Canadian, however, did not himself know that there 
was such a problem or that he was a part of it. The two 
million people of French origin in that Province or scat- 
tered in other Provinces of Canada looked upon their race 
as the pioneer settlers, as the founders of the nation, as the 
most devoted sons of the soil. They were much more 
detached from their old-time Motherland than were Eng- 
lish, Scotch or Irish Canadians; no common ties of lan- 
guage, education and religious sympathy held them to 
Canadian national unity. They were detached from the 
other Provinces of Canada by not only the separate local 
laws which all Provinces had but in a separate basis for 
their laws reaching back to the days and code of Napoleon; 
they had, of course, a different language and, upon the 
whole, a different religion; their isolation really constituted 
the problem which had, more than once, made them passive 
when other Canadians were in a white-heat of excitement, or 
made them boil over with enthusiasm when the rest of 
Canada was cool and critical. 

The acuteness or otherwise of this problem always has 
depended upon the degree to which some politician or 
political enthusiast was able to play upon the keys of the 
racial and religious instrument before him. In this respect 
the French Canadian leader was no different, except in 
detail, from any other Canadian. Politicians in Ontario 
appealed at times to the Orange lodges or to some of the 
varied forms which prejudice or sentiment took against 

[267] 



368 CANADA AT WAR 

Eoman Catholicism or French racialism ; in the West other 
politicians appealed to local feelings in favour of Free 
trade or of United States ideas such as Direct Legis- 
lation; elsewhere financial or industrial interests were 
urged to safeguard Canadian and individual welfare 
by Protection. The difference lay in the fact that in 
Ontario or the West a world-wide, or at the least a 
Canadian-wide, discussion of the subject was available 
through a common speech and press; in Quebec when a 
politician or publicist, the leader or the press, raised an 
issue involving Ontario, or Manitoba, or the Empire, 
there was no common ground of language and press 
on which it could be fought out and the result of free 
discussion prevail. Hence the serious responsibility 
which rested in very different days on the shoulders of 
a Papineau, a Mercier or a Bourassa. At the beginning of 
the War, in the strenuous months following it, and during 
the succeeding years, in Cabinet council, in Party caucus, 
on the street or in public meetings throughout the Domin- 
ion, the attitude of the French Canadian was widely dis- 
cussed. At first it was done privately, by 1916 it had 
become a public and general discussion. On the surface 
and to the man who did not think or want to think seriously 
there was much cause for dissatisfaction; to the impartial 
student of conditions there was obvious excuse for debating 
the question but no reason for the wholesale condemnation 
sometimes awarded to Quebec. As a matter of fact the 
order of natural interest felt by Canadians in the War was 
(1) British subjects resident here but born in the United 
Kingdom, (2) those born in Canada of British parents or 
ancestry, (3) those born in Canada of French ancestry. 
In this order they enlisted and would be expected to enlist. 
In some ways and for a time the French Canadian did 
well and the troops he sent abroad in the first months of the 
War were as numerous as the whole of Canada 's contribu- 
tion to the South African War. His share of the total 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 269 

native-born enlistment by the close of 1916 was variously 
estimated and, perhaps, totalled 12,000 men ; the proportion 
in view of many considerations was not a bad one. As a 
matter of fact F. M. G-andet, L. H. Archambault, E. T. 
Paqnet, Adolphe Danserean, Hercnle Barre, Henri Des- 
rosiers, Ohvar Asselin, had no greater difficulties in raising 
Battalions of French Canadians during 1916 than had their 
colleagues in English-speaking Canada during 1917. The 
worst that could be said of the individual habitant up to 
this time was that he remained passive or indifferent ; the 
same could be said, then and afterwards, of many a young 
man in other parts of Canada, of some farmers in Ontario 
and on the Atlantic coast. It should more often have been 
remembered that the French Canadian was isolated by his 
faith and language from the rest of Canada; that he was 
separated by various traditions and interpretations of his- 
tory from the ideals of the English Canadian ; that he was 
severed by a gulf from the anti-Church, republican, social- 
istic France of 1914, no matter how devoted he might be to 
the French language and his records of French heroism; 
that he did not understand, and few of his leaders had faith- 
fully interpreted to him, the Empire ideals of other Prov- 
inces ; that, practically, he knew no country but Canada as 
embodied in his native Province and often was frankly indif- 
ferent to the fate of other nations or indeed Provinces. 

His isolation had made it easier for men of facile tongue 
and narrow view to influence him than perhaps was the 
case elsewhere in Canada ; his patriotism naturally did not 
have the breadth which, in some English Canadians, became 
attenuated into cosmopolitanism, nor could he possess the 
Anglo-Saxon warmth of sentiment which often developed 
into Imperialism. His love was of the soil and the horizon 
of his hope was bounded by the coasts and borders of 
Canada. In a vague and general way he believed in British 
connection and respected the British Empire and was loyal 
to its liberties; but a gigantic, world-wide struggle for 



270 CANADA AT WAR 

civilization and freedom did not touch his sense of duty, stir 
his pulses or spur him to great practical effort. The same 
thing might be said, and with less reason, of many an 
English-speaking Canadian, as the recruiting officers soon 
found out. Hence the importance of the Bi-lingual issue 
which in 1914-17 had a place in Ontario and Manitoba, in 
Saskatchewan and Alberta; hence the influence of Quebec 
Nationalism, which turned its guns upon Ontario, in partic- 
ular, and used an alleged policy of that Province, in an 
Educational issue, to dampen French patriotism and ham- 
per Quebec recruiting. Nationalism, in itself, was a mere 
name for the fundamental opposition of certain elements in 
Quebec to any extension of Canadian activities and political 
action beyond the borders of Canada and of support for 
any possible extension of French Canadian influence within 
Canada itself. These concurrent feelings could be moder- 
ate or they could be extreme; they might be applied to 
Canada's participation in the South African War, to the 
Naval policy of either party, to any Imperialistic develop- 
ment, or to fighting for the Empire in Flanders. They were 
embodied in an extreme form at this stage by Henri 
Bourassa and Armand Lavergne ; they were not held in any 
party sense or limited to party feeling ; they were directed 
during these years mainly in attacking the Educational 
policy of the Ontario Government as to the teaching of 
French within that Province. As with so many other prob- 
lems of Quebec the issue was unavoidedly mixed up with 
the interests of the Church which had so long safeguarded 
the moral and religious life of the Province. 

The feeling of the French Canadian as to Education in 
Ontario was comprehensible, even if regrettable, because it 
was a part and parcel of his sentiment as to local school 
conditions. Its expression was, of course, not logical 
because if Quebec could interfere in the management of 
minority educational interests in Ontario, the latter Prov- 
ince and other Provinces could interfere as to minority 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAK 271 

rights or alleged rights in Quebec — and the situation might 
become very unpleasant. Things were so different in Que- 
bec from what they were elsewhere in Canada that it had 
always been difficult to develop a mutual understanding on 
points of religion or education and, as a result of feelings 
aroused by Nationalists playing upon the Bi-lingual chords 
of discord, even the War did not have the unifying effects 
which it otherwise would have had. To comprehend the 
situation clearly it has to be remembered that Roman Catho- 
lic Church control of the system of education in Quebec 
was, at the outbreak of the War and with the exception of 
the Protestant separate schools, close and complete. The 
Cathohc Committee of Public Instruction included the 
Bishops and Archbishops of Quebec with a selected number 
of representative Catholic laymen ; its methods of adminis- 
tration, its regulations, courses of study, examinations, 
business management, and construction of schools, etc., were 
almost identical with those of the Protestant Committee. 
But a great distinction existed when religion entered into 
the situation. The Catholic schools were a part of the 
parish organizations — each of the latter being, as a rule, 
incorporated as a municipality and also as a school district. 
The cure, or priest administering a Catholic church, was 
given the exclusive right in selecting books, dealing with 
religion and morals, for the use of pupils. At the Catholic 
Normal Schools one of the leading subjects was religious 
instruction and, in the diplomas awarded, sacred history 
was included. The teaching orders of Catholic women were 
freely utilized in all the schools and to the fact of their 
drawing little or no remuneration was due the very small 
average salaries paid to teachers in Quebec. 

The education of girls was and is, in all countries, one of 
the most vital of problems and it was claimed at this time, 
with apparently excellent reasons, that their instruction at 
the hands of thousands of devout and devoted women in 
French Canada constituted one of the best and most bene- 



272 CANADA AT WAR 

ficial elements in the Catholic system. The Nuns instructed 
their pupils in not only the ordinary courses of study but 
in domestic work, knitting, sewing and embroidery and, 
it was claimed, refined their manners while cultivating 
amongst them good morals and Christian knowledge. It is 
probable that at least one-half of the girls in the Catholic 
schools of Quebec in these years received a thorough train- 
ing in these important subjects. The number of female 
religious teachers in 1911 was 3,194 in the model schools 
and academies, while the Nuns teaching in elementary 
schools totalled 542. Under such conditions it went with- 
out saying that the history, polity and character of the 
Church were also 'taught and taught well. Much the same 
comment as above might be made upon the male religious 
orders and their instruction of boys. The Christian 
Brothers, and others, were placed in charge of important 
commercial colleges, as well as schools, with excellent 
results. There were 2,300 male religious teachers in the 
educational institutions of the Provinces and 4,500 female 
religious teachers or a total of over 6,800 male and female 
teachers (1914) out of 16,000 teachers instructing 400,000 
Catholic pupils and 59,000 Protestants. To the cost of all 
the schools the municipalities contributed over $7,750,000 
and the Provincial Government $1,780,000 — the great bulk 
of this money coming, of course, from Catholic parishes 
and going into Catholic schools. There were difficulties in 
the evolution of the system and some of the faults were 
obvious. School commissioners who could not read or write 
were occasionally found, though in any case they were 
usually good managers in financial matters; on the other 
hand, lack of education could be found on school boards in 
many a rural municipality outside of Quebec. Some of the 
time devoted to religious exercises and instruction in the 
primary schools was necessarily taken from secular sub- 
jects; on the other hand, convents and religious schools 
afforded an excellent education for many children at infi- 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAE 273 

nitely smaller cost than it could be obtained in any other 
province or state of America. 

The great trouble was, of course, economic — the large 
majority of children, especially boys, leaving school at too 
early an age. What they had learned they were apt to for- 
get — though this was a condition not confined to French 
Canadians. The atmosphere around the French habitant 
or artisan was not conducive to thought or education. He 
was too comfortable, too contented, too happy, if you like, 
to worry over newspapers and books and the life of other 
people and societies and nations in which he could never 
live or share. Even a girl brought up in the convent 
appeared to be glad, after a few years of domestic life, to 
hand over pen and ink and school memories to a daughter 
who was, perhaps, going through the same routine of edu- 
cation that she had left forever. A keen observer estimated 
that in one French parish, which he knew minutely, there 
had averaged in recent years one daily paper to eleven 
families and a weekly to about every fifteen families. Books 
were still more rare and very limited in scope and char- 
acter — especially in the rural parts of Quebec. Hence a 
natural and inevitable ignorance as to war issues, world 
problems. Empire conditions, Canadian sentiment. 

Such were the general conditions of education in French 
Canada in 1914-18. In summarized form it may be said 
that the overwhelming French and Catholic population and 
the limited numbers of English and Protestant people had 
each the same general system and forms of instruction, with 
separate control in respect to text-books and religious 
teaching. While, however, the Protestant element devoted 
itself with restricted means and success — outside of McG-ill 
University — to a secular education of the type known in 
the ordinary public schools of Ontario, the Catholic element 
devoted all the resources and energies and skilled practice 
of a great Church organization to the thorough grounding 
of the children, the youth, and the young men or women 



2U CANADA AT WAR 

of French Canada, in. religion as understood from a Koman 
Catholic standpoint. With that point of view and general 
policy there was necessarily bound up the racial situation 
and the preservation of the French language. 

There was apparently no idea of compromise in this 
respect — the Church and the language must stand together. 
It did not, of course, follow that the Church or its leaders 
believed that either, necessarily, would fall if they stood 
apart ; it simply meant that many elements of strength lay 
in their unity and certain obvious elements of danger in 
their severance. At the French Language Congress of 1912 
the Church and the race combined to uphold this principle 
and policy. There were present from Canada and the 
United States representatives of three million French 
Canadians who also were Catholics, while Archbishops and 
Bishops were honorary presidents and much applauded 
speakers. Language was described, in mottoes, as the soul 
of a people and as a sacred privilege, while Archbishop 
Langevin of Winnipeg declared that: ''If we have 
remained French it is because we have remained Catholic. 
It is by guarding our religion that we guard our race." 
M. Etienne Lamy, the distinguished French author and visi- 
tor, described Canada on this occasion as ' ' the land of con- 
stancy that has strengthened the wisdom of its laws and 
its customs on the Catholic faith"; Abbe Groulx, of Valley- 
field College, urged Canadians "to keep their distinctive 
spirit, with the virtues of their faith and the value of their 
tongue." Sir Joseph Dubuc, from Manitoba, declared that 
' ' the French language is, with the Catholic religion and the 
love of our country, the most sacred heritage that we have 
received." Hence the natural interest felt by the French 
Canadians of Quebec in the language question as it devel- 
oped in Ontario; hence also a basis for the extreme and 
unfortunate spirit developed in certain quarters by the 
Bourassa-Lavergne agitation. 



THE FEENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 275 

The basic problem was an obvious one. So long as the 
Church and the State were one in faith and language other 
than English, just so long, it was believed, would they be 
apart from the temptations of a wide Hberty which often 
degenerated throughout the continent and the world into 
unrestrained license; apart, also, from the looseness of 
modern literature, of the Higher Criticism, and of the infi- 
nite variations in modern rehgious thought outside of their 
Church. The literature of the French Canadian was in 
French, his teachers and preachers used French, his laws 
in civil and religious matters were from the French code 
of two centuries before, his habits and customs were French 
of an old-time period, his traditions, songs, history, and 
patriotism were all wrapped up in the language of his 
fathers — which his children learned to lisp at their 
mother's knee. It all served and still serves to differentiate 
him from the vast, overwhelming Anglo-Saxon hfe of the 
continent, to keep him in closer touch with his Church, to 
make him more submissive to its teachings and, in this age 
of a democracy which is almost uncontrollable, in even mat- 
ters of religion and social relationship, to keep him more 
easily amenable to the moral code and moral precepts. At 
the same time the Church kept him apart from modern 
France as representing some, at least, of the things which 
it opposed in Enghsh life and thought. 

Was this situation a desirable one or was it not? Can a 
writer or observer deal with such a problem outside of and 
apart from religious feelings or racial prejudices? It 
seems clear that the question of this French-speaking com- 
munity cannot be considered apart from religion or from 
the Church which holds almost an entire people at its altars. 
The first thought in this respect that occurs to one is the 
vital and root problem of whether some particular religious 
faith, accepted by a whole people and followed with such 
measure of devotion as human frailty will permit, is not 
better than a condition in which the same people, after 



276 CANADA AT WAR 

having that particular religion undermined, or shaken at 
its base, turns in part to other churches or denominations, 
in part to practical infidelity, in still larger part, perhaps, 
to general indifference regarding all religion. Back of this 
thought is, of course, the fundamental conception of relig- 
ion to which all Christendom adheres in theory — that 
religion is the most important thing in life and should 
control or influence all its interests. The Roman Catholic 
Church claims to carry out this theory in practice ; all the 
varied divisions of Protestantism accept it, but differ in 
their application of the theory, while most of them exclude 
government and education from its sphere. 

French Canada was at this time still Catholic in its 
almost universal acceptance of that Church — even the 
Irish part of the small English minority adhering largely 
to the one faith. The obvious and natural intention of 
Catholicism was to retain that allegiance, to strengthen the 
weak links in the chain of loyalty, to put religious backbone 
into those who might otherwise be feeble in their faith, to 
keep a strong hand upon both education and the press, and 
to make the former the key-note to the religion of the 
people. At a French Congress in Three Rivers during 
1913 George H. Baril, of Laval University, Montreal, 
defined the leading principles of the Congress as follows : 
''First and foremost is absolute and unquestioning submis- 
sion to the Church and to its right of control in moral and 
religious education; then there is the assertion of the 
parents' duty to watch over the child, and lastly there is 
the exclusion of Governments from the sphere of educa- 
tion." ''The Church," he added, "has the sacred right to 
direct the education of its youth and to see that none of the 
books of instruction are allowed to contain anything in 
the least injurious to the doctrines of the Catholic Church ; 
it is the business of the State to give protection and finan- 
cial assistance but not to take charge of National educa- 
tion. ' ' 



THE FEENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 277 

Such a view was, of course, in absolute antagonism to the 
average Protestant view of English-speaking people in 
Canada as a whole, in the Province of Ontario in particu- 
lar, or in the United States. Yet it really appears to have 
been the logical and natural one, from the Roman Catholic 
Church's standpoint, if it desired to hold the. French Cana- 
dians in Quebec, or elsewhere, as a unit in faith and as a 
great force within one organization. Of course, this car- 
ried with it a high responsibility in the practical exclusion 
from French Canada of all knowledge as to the high prin- 
ciples, and lofty thoughts, and splendid ideals, which have 
distinguished so many branches of the Protestant faith in 
so many countries and centuries of the world's history. 
Meanwhile the difficulties of modern life were growing 
apace but even if the child of French Canada was not quite 
as much alive and alert in certain lines of education and 
initiative as his Ontario compatriot and his American 
competitor, it was, after all, a question of comparative 
values. Ability to hold his own with others in the material 
development and labours of after life was the excellent 
aim placed before the public school child in English Canada 
with, however, manners, morals and religion as conditions 
left to the home and the churches. The obvious weakness 
of this system was that prayer and religion were being 
and are more and more eliminated from the home by stress 
of life and work while the churches and Sunday Schools 
are in touch with only a portion of the people or their chil- 
dren. On the other hand, ability to meet what are believed 
by the average Catholic to be the essentials of life in this 
world and the next — obedience to the Church, religious 
observance and duties, morals and manners — were the 
first condition of the Eoman Catholic schools of French 
Canada, with business affairs, and capacity, and material 
interests, holding a secondary place. 

The two systems were fundamentally antagonistic and 
the results divergent. The Catholic believed that a man 



S78 CANADA AT WAR 

should be made a complete Christian along his lines of faith 
and that he would then be the best citizen ; the Protestant, 
as a rule, was willing to construct the citizen first and 
develop the Christian afterwards or else to try and evolve 
the two lines of thought together. Which of these systems 
was or is the best will and must be a matter of opinion 
dependent largely upon whether religion or practical utility 
is regarded as the first essential. The pity of it, to sympa- 
thetic observers in the case of Quebec, would seem to lie in 
the apparent difficulty of finding some successful compro- 
mise between the two. Yet, even in this question of 
practical utility, there were two considerations. The life 
and surroundings of the rural French Canadian were so 
totally different from those of other Canadians, or of 
Americans, as to at once bring up the question of whether 
a change was desirable. There is usually but one answer 
to that question, and it an affirmative, from those who are 
not French Canadians; from those who are of that race, 
taken as a whole, the answer is diametrically opposite. Is 
the final test of life, happiness and contentment, or is it 
ambition, restless change, and money? Here again is a 
fundamental divergence and the French Canadians may be 
taken, with inevitable exceptions, to embody the one view 
while the American people, with also many and important 
exceptions, and a large class of Canadians, may be taken 
to represent the other view. 

It must not be understood, however, that opinion in 
Quebec is, or ever has been, unanimous on these points. The 
majority has been very large in favour of present educa- 
tional conditions, but there was also a small and aggressive 
minority. Of late years it has been led by Godefroi Lang- 
lois, M.L.A., of Montreal, and his paper Le Pays. He wanted 
a Department of Public Instruction similar to that of 
Ontario and other provinces which should, presumably — 
though he did not quite say so — take the control of educa- 
tion from the Hierarchy and give it to the politicians; he 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAE 379 

demanded free and compulsory education and uniformity 
in school books. Under such a system it was obvious that 
the parish cure could not dictate the books on religion and 
morals to his school; nor could special time be taken from 
secular studies to prepare a child for its first Communion ; 
nor would the Church and its great educational institutions 
hold the same predominating place in the Province. 

How far in such a case the change of masters, the trans- 
fer of the schools from the Church to the Legislature, would 
equalize conditions as between the Quebec and the Ontario 
boy, for instance, would then become a matter of race, and 
here, again, the divergence, in this case of type, was very 
great. As to outside criticisms and comparisons. Sir Lomer 
Gouin expressed his point of view in the Legislature very 
concisely when he stated that in 1911 Quebec had 385,000 
children inscribed in the schools, or 19 per cent of the 
population; and Ontario 459,000, or 18 per cent; and that 
the average school attendance in Quebec was 77 per cent, 
Ontario 69 per cent. New Brunswick 69 per cent, and Nova 
Scotia 64 per cent. The obvious inference was that M. 
Langlois ' proposals would not better matters, as the Prov- 
inces which had long ago adopted the system suggested 
really had a smaller average attendance at school than 
Quebec itself. The Church's reply to M. Langlois was to 
interdict his paper. 

This brief picture of conditions and feelings in Quebec 
is essential to a full comprehension of the ease with which 
a Bi-lingual or anti-naval, or anti-conscription agitation had 
been or might be developed in that Province by unscrupu- 
lous agitators. The Ontario side of the School question and 
the right to control its own educational system; the neces- 
sity in a Province where business conditions and ability to 
speak English were essential to give the clearest and most 
effective instruction in that language to all pupils ; the lib- 
erty accorded in Ontario to Eoman Catholic Separate 
Schools and their complete self-government from a religious 



380 CANADA AT WAR 

point of view; these things were not properly laid before 
the people of Quebec. So with the splendid history of 
Great Britain, the rise and progress of its Empire and the 
world 's liberties were also largely omitted from the higher 
school courses and Classical Colleges where they might 
well have had a place. A claim, therefore, that the French 
language must have, and was entitled to have, equality in 
Ontario with English was a splendid political platform to 
present in Quebec and to impress upon the pioneer race of 
Canadian history ; the necessity of English being the domi- 
nant language in an English Province, as French was in the 
French Province, served as an equally strong call to an 
Ontario people who knew that English was the language 
of the Motherland, of the continent on which they lived, of 
commerce, business and financial success. When Parlia- 
ment discussed the subject in 1916 and Sir Wilfred Laurier 
stood by his compatriots and the Legislature of Quebec in 
asking Ontario to moderate its educational policy, h& 
Embodied one of two conflicting schools of thought and 
stood upon a platform which only part of the people of 
Canada could appreciate or fully understand, and the roots 
of which were complicated and tangled up in a Nation- 
alist underbrush of dangerous statement and unfair 
deduction. 

Under Mr. Bourassa's manipulation the question gradu- 
ally affected the whole war-situation in Quebec, yet the 
outlook of sincere Bi-lingualist leaders, such as Senator 
N. A. Belcourt of Ottawa, could be based upon conditions 
given above, and be entirely honest and patriotic, even if 
unacceptable to an English majority in Canada. The Gov- 
ernment and people of Ontario might be absolutely right 
and justified in making sure of English training for every 
pupil in its schools while at the same time both Government 
and people of Quebec were justified in hoping and even urg- 
ing an adequate instruction for French Canadians in their 
own beautiful mother tongue. The point of essential diver- 



THE FRENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 281 

gence was in method and manner of agitation ; in disloyal 
Nationalist discussion of the issue calculated so as to 
estrange the Provinces and hamper war-action ; in the fail- 
ure to propose, discuss or accept moderate counsels. At 
the close of 1916 a British Privy Council decision cleared 
the air and endorsed the constitutional legality of the 
Ontario Government's complete control over Education 
while rejecting a certain local application of its policy in 
Ottawa which the Bi-lingual advocates especially opposed ; 
in October, 1918, a Pastoral from the Pope, following one 
in 1916, urged moderation and toleration in word and 
policy. 

As to the War, directly and officially, the Church in 
Quebec expressed herself clearly and promptly in the Pas- 
toral letter of the Hierarchy issued late in 1914 which 
declared that: '' England is engaged in this war, and who 
does not see that the destiny of every part of the Empire 
is bound up with the fate of her armies? She counts very 
rightly on our co-operation and this co-operation, we are 
happy to say, is being generously offered to her both in 
men and in money. It will be the honour and glory of 
Canada, which is so intimately united with two of the lead- 
ing belligerent Powers, to have done her share, by fervent 
supplications for the restoration of peace in the world, and 
by generous contributions, to have assisted in allaying the 
evils which afflict mankind." On September 8, 1914, 
L' Action CatJiolique of Quebec, supposed to be the organ of 
the Cardinal- Archbishop, published an article declaring that 
*'the Catholic clergy of the country, as well as the clergy of 
the city, should adopt not the principles of this or that poli- 
tician regarding the War, but those which are taught to us 
by the Pope and the Bishops." The above Pastoral was 
quoted and then the journal proceeded as follows : **In the 
grave circumstances in which we are, the rural clergy, as 
well as all the clergy in general, are aware that they would 
doubly fail in their duty if they furnish voluntarily the 
19 



282 CANADA AT WAE 

least pretext to those who might call into question their 
loyalty and attachment to the cause .of the Mother Country." 
This was written in reference to the rumours that Parish 
cures in rural districts were discouraging recruiting. Suc- 
ceeding editorials took the same line and, on October 8, the 
following direct statement as to Nationalism was made : 

To prevent the circulation of a thesis which we 
consider false, in itself and dangerous in its conse- 
quences — the thesis that Canada has no moral or 
constitutional obligation, or pressing interest in 
the War, that we have no other obligations to Eng- 
land than we have to Belgium or France — we have 
had to teach what we believe to be in conformity 
with natural and Christian duty. The thesis which 
we defend may be thus expressed : As part of the 
British Empire, it is our moral duty to aid our 
legitimate Sovereign and our metropolitan centre 
in this War, because they are in danger. This 
moral obligation to aid England in just measure 
is united with the obligation to defend Canadian 
interests which are involved in this conflict. The 
legitimate Government of Canada decided that our 
aid to England should consist of men and money, 
and no other authority in Canada is competent to 
judge with full knowledge. Its decision is not, in 
any sense, a violation of our natural or constitu- 
tional rights. 

During 1915 and 1916 the Bishops and Archbishops did 
not consider it their duty to frequently urge recruiting; 
they did not, on the other hand, fail to declare the righteous- 
ness of the British cause. As Archbishop Bruchesi put it 
at a Laval University function in Montreal on December 8, 
1915: '*! here honour the Laval University Military Hos- 
pital. The University has understood Canada *s duty in the 
terrible conflict that is now going on and has performed 
an act of generous patriotism. Her sons are organizing 
for the struggle. Thus they are contributing to end the 
lying legend that French Canadians and Catholics have no 
part and are taking no part in the great fight that is being 



THE FRENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAE 383 

waged for the defense of law, civilization and humanity. 
Thank God, our people have understood their duty. They 
have given their gold and their sons. They have not drawn 
back at the thought of sacrifices." The loyal British atti- 
tude of His Grace of Montreal had often been expressed; 
his alleged official organ — La Semaine Religieuse — was 
not behind L' Action Catholique at this time in urging the 
cause of the Empire. 

Meantime, however, the sentimental and patriotic war- 
influences brought to play upon the French Canadian had 
been slight in variety and not very effective in force while 
the Bi-lingual agitation was so developed as to check such 
sentimental activity as existed. It was not until the middle 
of 1915 that members of the Dominion Government under- 
took a campaign of education and encouragement. Then 
Messrs. T. Chase Casgrain, Pierre E. Blondin and the new 
Minister, E. L. Patenaude, made a series of strong speeches 
urging enlistment, painting the duties of the hour in vig- 
orous terms, declaring the obligations of the French 
Canadian to the flag and the Empire. During 1916 similar 
speeches were made by these Ministers from time to time 
but even then there was no great recruiting effort, no such 
organization of the Province as there would have been in 
a general election, for instance, no outstanding figure to 
persistently press the subject upon the attention of the 
French Canadian and appeal to that instinct of hero wor- 
ship, that warmth of imagination, that principle of loyalty 
to a person, be he Pope or King or Party leader, which was 
embedded in the mind of the French Canadian as it had been 
in the days of Louis XIV — a period and a nation which 
the French Canadian represented far more truly at this time 
than he did the France of his own day. Sir Wilfrid Laurier 
could have done this but years and political views seemed 
to make it impossible. Mr. Blondin in the one party, Mr. 
Lemieux in the other, did appeal, and earnestly, to the 
patriotism of the people but the appeal was a general one 



284 CANADA AT WAR 

and not sufficient to sweep aside the selfish or personal, tra- 
ditional or prejudiced, feelings of the moment — cultivated 
or poisoned as they were by Mr. Bourassa and the National- 
ists. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, at the inception of the War, had 
given the Government his hearty support, he opposed its 
administration in details, but on the general principle of 
efficient, effective, large-handed conduct of the War, in close 
co-operation with the British authorities, he was for a time 
at one with Sir Eobert Borden. At St. Lin, Quebec, on 
August 7, 1915, and at Sherbrooke on the 12th, he made 
speeches which would, if continued and properly supported, 
have set the susceptible French mind on fire with enthusi- 
asm. He concluded the latter address as follows: 

I am an old man but rather than in this War see 
Belgium, France and England dismembered and 
Germany triumph, I pray that God will not let me 
see that day. But it is not my death that I am look- 
ing for. I am thankful to God that He has given 
me enough strength yet in my old age to be able to 
fight this battle. What is the duty of our young 
men 1 If I were a young man and I had the health 
which I have to-day and which I did not have when 
I was young, I would not hesitate to take the 
musket, and to fight for freedom, as so many of 
our fellow-countrymen are doing. I cannot do that 
now. But there is one thing I can do, I can use my 
voice, such as it is, in the great cause in which we 
all have such a supreme interest. This is the mes- 
sage that I bring to you upon this occasion. The 
peril is at present great. We must not rest under 
the misapprehension of false security. If we want 
to win, we must be worthy of freedom, we have to 
be prepared to fight for freedom. 

But neither party really organized the Province and 
sporadic attempts at promoting war patriotism only 
served to accentuate the slow but sure action of a National- 
ist movement which might, in 1914—16, have been headed off 
or effectively nullified. In 1915 it was hardly a movement ; 
it was a section of opinion led, created, manipulated, by 



THE FEENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 285 

Messrs. Bourassa and Lavergne; in 1916 it developed bit- 
terness and strength in its opposition to recruiting and 
towards 1917 it became a very definite movement against 
conscription or any aid to Britain or the Empire. 
Le Devoir, the evening paper of Montreal, edited by Henri 
Bourassa, and Le Nationaliste, its weekly edition, were the 
organs of a school of thought represented in these years by 
the following extract from a speech by Mr. Bourassa at 
Montreal on January 14, 1915 : ''Let England take care of 
herself, as she is able to. Why should Canada send her 
young men to fight the battles of an Empire when she has 
no voice in the Government of that Empire? It would be 
well for the French Canadian race to keep before their 
minds the aim of maintaining a free and peaceful land for 
their own enjoyment, able to repel attacks from without, 
but keeping clear of wars that are not the wars of the 
Canadians." At first, in the later months of 1914 Mr. 
Bourassa for some unknown reason, had been neutral in 
war matters : he now made up for this temporary condition 
by a steadily-growing viciousness of view and expression 
as to everything British and loyally Canadian. Day after 
day Le Devoir continued its criticism of everything British, 
of all war co-operation, of everything touching Empire 
action. 

Long lists of alleged historic sins by England were pub- 
lished ; the wickedness of all war and the interesting claim 
that this particular one was caused by yellow newspapers, 
subsidized by a ''Dreadnought Trust," were elaborated; 
the desirability of Canadians staying at home and growing 
wheat was urged, or, as was actually suggested in a 
pamphlet by Mr. Bourassa called ''The Duty of Canada/^ 
the arranging for an increased production of vegetables, 
fruits and poultry; the alleged establishment in Ontario's 
educational system of a "Prussian tyranny abhorrent to 
everything Canadian ' ' was continuously dealt with ; the alle- 
gation that Italy entered the War for purely selfish motives 



286 CANADA AT WAR 

and that Japan would, after the War, demand and receive 
special privileges in British Columbia, were typical claims ; 
Conscription was continually denounced in early years as 
though it were being officially arranged for while recruiting 
was strongly deprecated; a signed article on the School 
question, on July 7, 1915, dealt with "Eussian Boches and 
Ontario Boches," and compared them both to infernal 
spirits; the imperative need was constantly urged of pro- 
tecting an autonomy which it was hard to differentiate from 
absolute separation — from Ontario, or Canada, or the 
Empire as the case might be. In an issue of October 19, 
1915, for instance, Le Devoir fiercely attacked Great Britain 
and accused its people of every form of degeneration and 
cowardice. Every great period of its history was twisted 
so that the worst enemy of England could hardly have rec- 
ognized it in this country of pagan worshippers of gold and 
mediocre armies only fit to conquer half-civilized peoples ! 
At the close of this year and throughout 1916 the guns 
of Nationalism were also directed strongly against Ontario 
and the educational policy outlined in its famous Eegula- 
tion 17 which declared that: "Where necessary in the case 
of French-speaking pupils, French may be used as the 
language of instruction and communication ; but such use of 
French shall not be continued beyond Form 1, excepting 
that, on the approval of the Chief Inspector, it may also be 
used as the language of instruction and communication in 
the case of pupils beyond Form 1 who are unable to speak 
and understand the English language." No language was 
sufficiently strong for Mr. Bourassa or his chief lieutenant, 
Armand Lavergne, to use in attacking this Ontario regula- 
tion. On December 10, 1915, the former told a Montreal 
audience that "there are 200,000 French Canadians to-day 
living under worse oppression in Ontario than the people 
of Alsace-Lorraine under the iron heel of Prussia . . . 
There is no principle whereby Canada, Australia and other 
parts of the Empire should be held actively to partici- 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 287 

pate in the Empire's wars . . . We — the French 
Canadians — have not to keep together with our blood the 
Empire which Britain has not the force or ability to keep 
herself." Mr. Lavergne, who was a Lieutenant-Colonel in 
the Militia, went further and declared on November 3, in 
refusing the Minister of Militia's invitation to help in rais- 
ing a Eegiment, that '*it is not for us to defend England; 
it is for England to defend us ! " 

The position and influence of Mr. Bourassa in Quebec 
could be, and sometimes was, over-estimated in these years ; 
it also was frequently under-estimated. Its importance did 
not lie in Parliamentary representation, though a number 
of Conservative members of the Commons had been elected 
as Nationalists in 1911 ; nor in Provincial Legislative rep- 
resentation, because there was none. It lay in the persist- 
ent and clever advocacy of a cause — the non-participation 
of Canada in Imperial wars or Empire government or 
Imperial responsibility; in steady and consistent present- 
ment of French Canadians as the only true Canadians 
and as the continuous victime of either British rapacity, 
or Ontario persecution, or Manitoba injustice, or Orange 
wickedness; in bitter and unscrupulous denunciation of 
Great Britain and the British people and soldiers in the 
War with the reiteration of every possible misconception 
as to Allied policy and action. The mouthpiece of Mr. 
Bourassa in this connection — as quoted above — was not 
a great or even brilliant journal, but it was a clever one, 
it was influential in voicing opinions which some local poli- 
ticians held but dared not, or could not, put so clearly, it 
reached an audience not so much large as it was select and 
influential — political leaders or would-be politicians, rising 
young lawyers and speakers, priests in the cities and cures 
in the parishes, students of Laval and professors in the 
Colleges. 

As the year 1917 came and went, Mr. Bourassa 's utter- 
ances in Le Devoir became very bold — with a fundamental 



288 CANADA AT WAR 

explanation, probably, in his statement to the Manchester 
Guardian of March 20: "As to us. Nationalists, our choice 
has been made many years ago. The choice being put to 
us, we vote for Independence. It is, to our mind, the sim- 
plest solution of the national problem, the most consonant 
with British and Canadian traditions, the necessary goal of 
self-government." In a Montreal speech on May 30, Mr. 
Bourassa urged the union of French Canadians in Mani- 
toba, Ontario, Acadia (Nova Scotia) and New England: 
*'Let us guard our blood and labour at a price, if neces- 
sary. ' ' A series of personal editorials followed and in the 
fourth one (May 31) he said: ''Canada has furnished all 
the man-power she can for this war without grave danger 
to her own existence and that of her Allies. . . . What 
England needs is not soldiers, but bread, meat and 
potatoes." On June 1 he declared that there was in Canada 
'*a line of deep cleavage" between the races; that Imperial 
ideas had caused this through abandonment of an allegd 
original plan for Canada to stand alone without Empire 
responsibilities. On June 5 he commented upon Conscrip- 
tion in Canada as following action in the United States and 
as intended, chiefly, to catch escaping slackers for the bene- 
fit of that country : '' So it is not to save democracy and a 
superior civilization that Canada is threatened by the most 
hateful and bloodiest of tolls ! It is not to help France and 
England, it is not even to support its own army, it is simply 
to do police work for the United States Grovernment ! " Dis- 
guised threats followed, on the 6th, with various references 
which were malignant in the extreme. 

These quotations are given here not because they 
embodied French Canadian opinion as a whole, but because 
many in Ontario and elsewhere believed they did; not 
because they proved the frequent statement that Quebec was 
evading its duty, but because they furnished a reason why 
some, at least, of the people there did not see any duty to 
perform ; not because such utterances were reflections upon 



THE FRENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 289 

the French Canadian people, but because they explained 
some of the misunderstandings existent in Ontario, just as 
the extreme opinions of the Orange Sentinel were often 
thought in Quebec to stand as the popular view of a whole 
Province. Out of this situation, however, certain things 
developed as they were bound to do. Politics came to the 
front and still further muddled the war issue ; they, indeed, 
constituted a vital element of the war problem in Quebec — 
more so than was generally supposed elsewhere. The 
habitant, or small farmer, or the average artisan, did not 
suspect that because he possessed the excitable French 
nature and was susceptible to racial interests and appeals ; 
because he was naturally jealous of his traditions and cher- 
ished privileges; because he was obviously suspicious of 
pressure, or supposed pressure, from the overwhelming 
mass of English Canadians, British Empire peoples or 
Anglo-Saxon populations around him; that, therefore, he 
was an object of special consideration to politicians. He did 
not inherit his politics as did so many people in Ontario and 
elsewhere ; but he did inherit the strong desire for a French 
Quebec and a most natural liking for the extension of 
French Canadian ideals and language through the medium 
of speech, of school, and of migration. 

During late years Sir Wilfrid Laurier had become the 
central figure in his political affections. It was no longer a 
case of party politics in this latter connection, as in the 
days of Laurier and Chapleau or Dorion and Cartier; it 
was devotion to a Chief who embodied the essence of Que- 
bec thought. At heart Quebec was and is moderate, though 
it can be swept by a storm of resentment or prejudice a lit- 
tle more easily than the other Provinces because of its 
racial isolation; to defeat a leader who retained support 
because of moderation it was inevitable that extremes such 
as Nationalism should, from time to time, come upon the 
scene and be used by the politicians. Hence the use of 
Mercier and his followers by Laurier in his younger days 



290 CANADA AT WAR 

against Sir John Macdonald; hence the use by Conserva- 
tives of Bourassa and his Nationalists against Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier in the latter 's days of power; hence, once more, 
the evolution of Nationalism as a factor against War-action, 
Conscription, the Borden Government of 1911 and the Union 
Government of 1917. Hence the fact that although a Bye- 
election such as that of Dorchester could be carried in 1917 
by a Conservative Minister yet at this very time the feeling 
of the Province was essentially a Laurier sentiment ready 
to swing into enthusiastic support of its leader after the 
seed of anti-Conscription had been properly planted and 
nursed by Nationalism and the spirit of antagonism to that 
policy in principle and practice, accepted by Sir Wilfrid. 
Hence the bitterness of sentiment expressed in the Com- 
mons during the Conscription debates by French Canadians 
such as Joseph Demers, Jacques Bureau, H. Boulay, P. A. 
Seguin, J. A. C. Ethier, H. Achim, Eoch Lanctot, D. A. 
Lafortune, M. Martin, J. E. Marcile and others. Eacial 
sentiment had become merged in one party, devotion to race 
was embodied in its leader. So it was that Lieut-Col. P. E. 
Blondin in leaving the Government to promote recruiting 
found himself too late and discovered that the public mind 
had been trained in the other direction by the Nationalist 
leaders and press. So it was that in the later years of the 
War public conviction was solidified in a belief that race 
and religion were threatened at home in Ontario much more 
than Canadian liberty was menaced in Europe. Priests, it 
was true, sat upon the Blondin platform but cures, day in 
and day out, had already given their personal influence in 
many rural parishes against any war-aid by French 
Canadian youths to or upon the soil of Godless France. 
Hence the sudden and passionate outbursts of excitable 
youths in Montreal and Quebec — the ebullitions of a Marsil 
or a Paguin, a Lamarche or a Eicard, a Villeneuve, 
Thibault, Maille, Bernier or Lafortune, a Mongeau or 
Lalumiere. The violent speeches of these young men on city 



THE FEENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 291 

platforms or street corners did not represent Quebec opin- 
ion but they did indicate the ripe fruition of Bourassa utter- 
ances and the steady dripping of poisoned water upon a 
stone of race tradition and affection. 

No doubt the whole Nationalist, anti-recruiting, anti- 
Conscription, anti-British movement could have been 
checked by the Church if taken in time. But it was not 
primarily the business of the Church to interfere, though 
■Archbishop Bruchesi and one or two Bishops did support 
recruiting upon occasion; her attitude was clearly defined 
at the beginning of the War and should have been supple- 
mented by active Government support, both Federal and 
Provincial ; the chief advocate of Nationalism was a devout 
adherent of the Church and did not in the first year take 
any openly anti-war attitude; then the cleverly-used lan- 
guage issue complicated matters and after that party poli- 
tics supervened. The whole situation was a difficult one and 
while many Canadians would have liked to see the Church 
in Quebec take a more active part in war politics, yet it 
would hardly be just to criticize her for not doing so. As a 
matter of fact the attitude of the Hierarchy was one of 
dignified loyalty — neither aggressive nor arrogant, nor 
weak. Conscription was opposed by Cardinal Begin and 
the Church leaders so long as it was an issue in Parliament 
and before the people ; moderation, however, was urged and 
when it became law, active opposition ceased. So far as 
public rights were concerned this attitude was as easily 
justified as was the official and political advocacy of Prohibi- 
tion by the Methodist Church in Canada generally. As the 
Cardinal put it on July 28, 1917, in L' Action Catholique, so 
the Church in Quebec felt regarding the 600 clergymen who, 
it was claimed, would be taken from the Colleges mth at 
least 150 of them lost to the priesthood of the Church : 

This Conscription law is a menace which causes 
the Canadian clergy the worst apprehensions. 
This military service, as it is proposed, or at least 



392 CANADA AT WAR 

as we are enabled to judge from the speeches and 
articles its discussion has provoked, is not only a 
serious blow to the rights of the Church of Christ, 
independent in its domain, and whose laws and 
practice exempt the clergy and that class of society 
which that name designates from the service of 
arms, but also it constitutes a fatal obstacle to the 
recruiting ministers of God, shepherds of souls, as 
well as to that of the staff of clerical teachers, and 
through this very fact it creates in our society an 
evil much worse than that which it is alleged to 
attempt to remedy. 

What the Church did do was to give full support to 
Patriotic Funds and the sale of Victory Bonds; to urge 
observance of law in days of riot and trouble ; to stand for 
acceptance of Conscription when once approved by the 
people through Parliament and enforced by the Government 
of the land. It is true that some newspapers with Church 
affiliations — though not official ones — were violent in 
their language and that La Croix threatened to smash Con- 
federation, U Ideal CatJiolique advocated a French Cana- 
dian republic and Le Devoir shouted ''down with England" 
while posing as a specially-loyal servant of the Church. 
But with the exception of the last, these papers had little 
influence, although widely and unjustly quoted throughout 
Canada as representing Quebec opinion, while some at, 
least, of their views were officially repudiated. Quick 
advantage also was taken by all anti-war or National- 
ist elements in the Province and by anti-Quebec influences 
outside the Province of any loop-hole given by Church 
dignitaries and such incidents as the alleged retirement 
of L'Abbe D 'Amours from the editorship of L* Action 
Catholique because of his loyal attitude and the expressed 
approval by Archbishop Bruchesi, Cardinal Begin, and 
other Bishops, of Le Pape Arbitre de la Paix, a book by 
Mr. Bourassa urging that the Pope be appointed the 
World's Peace Arbitrator, were made much of. It was 
natural for the Church to approve this latter view; it was 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 293 

unfortunate that in this particular volume the writer should 
describe the Allies as ''fighting only for domination of the 
world" and as "the principal authors of that abominable 
butchery" with other typical expressions of opinion. 

In his letter, however, the Archbishop of Montreal was 
careful to limit his approval to what was written about the 
Pope and, after what seems to have been the unauthorized 
publication of the letter, Le Semaine Religieuse, the sup- 
posed organ of His Grace, offered its complete fyle of 
Le Devoir for sale. Some of these were small matters, 
and amongst the more significant things was such an appeal 
as that issued by Archbishop Bruchesi on March 28, 1918, 
for prayer in his churches as follows: "The time has now 
come to make a final assault on the Divine mercy by our 
prayers and our acts of penance, in order to obtain a victory 
for the Allies, and for the peace of the world." A similar 
point was the letter of Bishop iSmard of Valleyfield 
(May 7) to the young soldiers of his Diocese : ^'•Tell your- 
selves that, like the Maccabees of old, the cause for which 
you fight is just, noble and saintly, and then, with the convic- 
tion that springs from this knowledge, will come the ardour 
and conviction of a valiant defender of your country." 

Meantime while politics had hampered the Church it had 
also developed within Nationalism, and was clearly shown 
in the riotous speeches of 1917 and early in 1918, in the pop- 
ular antagonism to Borden and the Union party, in the 
support given to Laurier and the fight against Conscrip- 
tion. That politics had something to do with the Bi-lingual 
agitation, the Nationalist attitude, and Conscription mat- 
ters, seems clear from the fact that after the Elections of 
1917 much of the bitterness went out of public utterances 
and that the result in that contest of 62 Laurier members 
returned, to three Unionists, on a popular vote of 243,000 
against 76,000, represented a large French Canadian major- 



394 CANADA AT WAR 

ity.* At the same time it became clear that the Quebec 
riots were mainly a sporadic development of preceding 
teachings, while the official action of the Church, as repre- 
sented by the Pope, in the Bi-lingual affair, further and 
greatly cleared the air. No party or organization wished 
to antagonize this potent factor in Quebec conditions. 
Later on, as the chief political leader of Quebec outside of 
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Provincial Premier, Sir Lomer 
Gouin, spoke as follows on December 2, 1918 : 

Now that Germany has been forced to renounce 
her foolish dream of the military, economic, and 
intellectual domination of the world, there is prob- 
ably not a single German who does not call down 
on the head of England all the maledictions of the 
skies, but on the other hand there is not a single 
Ally who will not bless England with all her heart. 
There is not a single British subject, no matter 
where he may be, who does not feel proud of the 
fact that he is a Briton, and proud of the glorious 
part that the Empire has played in the last four 
years. For 150 years we have been a part of the 
great British family, and during that time there 
has never been a time when we could rejoice with 
better reason than now at the grandeur, the power, 
and the glory of the Mother-country. 

Meanwhile what of the Military Service Act and the 
enforcement of Conscription in Quebec? The beginning of 
1919 did not show such an unfavorable situation as was 
believed in the rest of Canada. At the close of 1918 there 
had been 117,104 persons registered under the Act in this 
Province, with 115,707 claims for exemption and of the lat- 
ter 89,575 had been allowed by local tribunals with only 
3,711 disallowed. In Ontario the situation was better in 
this respect but not sufficiently so to permit of boasting — 
125,750 registered, 118,128 claims for exemption, 94,197 
allowed by local tribunals and 19,148 disallowed. On the 

* It may be noted that the Ontario vote showed 269,000 against Conscrip- 
tion, with 515,000 for it — a negative total larger than that of the hostile 
French Canadian Province. 



THE FRENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 395 

other hand there were 22,421 claims still to be dealt with in 
Quebec and only 4,783 in Ontario, while fully one-half of the 
appeals lodged in the former Province against the decision 
of the tribunals were placed by Government representatives. 
On February 15, 1919, the percentage of defaulters or men 
called up and not reporting were as follows in the various 
Military districts: London, 4"58; Toronto, 1376; King- 
ston, 13'13; Montreal, 25'81; Quebec, 15'58; Halifax, 
15'03; St. John, lO'SO; Winnipeg, 19'67; Vancouver, 
1576; Kegina, 15 '92; Calgary, 14' 08. At this time, how- 
ever, the general result was not so favourable to Quebec 
and the draftees obtained under the Act showed a Dominion 
total of 21,978 of whom Quebec had only contributed 2,038. 
Much feeling was aroused elsewhere by this fact, by the 
violent outbreak and riots in Quebec City and by cur- 
rent statements; finally in the Commons on April 7, Sir 
Robert Borden, in explaining the Quebec City riots, took 
occasion to state that the Act would be rigorously enforced 
and that ''persons who engaged in active or forcible resist- 
ence to the enforcement of this Act shall be forthwith 
enrolled in the Military forces of Canada, without regard 
to whether their class has been called out, without regard to 
any exemption that they may have procured, and subject 
only to the consideration that they shall be within military 
age. ' ' 

Following this an important change occurred in the Prov- 
ince. Archbishop Mathieu of Regina, a notably loyal and 
able prelate and formerly Rector of Laval, visited Montreal 
and Quebec in April and used arguments of admitted force 
and persuasiveness along the lines of conciliation and the 
full acceptance of Conscription — after conferences with 
the Dominion leaders and Cardinal Begin; Le Soleil, a 
Laurier organ, declared that liberty was not in this crisis 
an individual right so much as a collective responsibility; 
the Dominion Government established a close control over 
the Nationalist press and checked its wilder utterances; 



296 CANADA AT WAK 

UEvenement of Quebec developed new life and energy in 
its loyal advocacy, and the Church newspapers came out in 
bitter condemnation of the Quebec anti-draft riots while the 
Seminary at Quebec and Laval University in Montreal took 
a new and active war attitude instead of one in which digni- 
fied aloofness was rather obvious. The real Quebec, which 
neither politicians nor Nationalists had adequately repre- 
sented, came to the front, a Tank Corps was formed with 
more volunteers than could be utilized, opposition to the 
draft practically ceased and the Laval C. 0. T. C. volun- 
teered very largely for active service in a unit commanded 
by Lieut.-Col. E. de la B. Girouard; from May to July an 
ever-increasing number of draftees reported for service at 
Quebec and Montreal with 8,357 announced on August 16 
out of a total of 50,356 for all Canada. Defaulters, however, 
were still too numerous and were stated at 12,000 on August 
19 in the Quebec district alone and 10,000 a few weeks later. 
The latter figure was quoted by the Hon. N. W. Rowell but 
denied by L'Evenem'ent which claimed that there were not 
half that number. At the close of the War it was stated 
officially that 115,000 men had reported under the Military 
Service Act throughout Canada and that of these Quebec 
contributed about 46,000; that there were 27,000 evaders 
or defaulters in the Dominion generally of whom 18,800 
were from Quebec. 

These facts indicate a better record for the Province than 
was popularly believed to exist. As a matter of fact, sur- 
face and superficial appearances, the blatant statements of 
the Nationalists and unpleasant incidents of riot or hot- 
headed speech-making, did not represent the feelings of the 
majority of the Province who in many cases had not even 
taken the trouble to vote against Conscription — the voting 
total in Quebec during the Elections being 316,000 compared 
with 784,000 in Ontario. There were fundamental and 
National differences in this recruiting matter also which 
were forgotten outside of the Province. There was the 



THE FRENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 297 

absence of real military organization in Quebec and the lack 
of Militia enthusiasm, with but 12 French Canadian regi- 
ments in 1914 as against 52 in Ontario; there was a con- 
firmed pacifism of thought which was the natural result of 
isolated racialism; there, also, was the periodical presence 
of a Nationalism which, under many forms and names, had 
existed since the days of Papineau ; there was a serious lack 
of acquaintance between the newspapers, the journalists, 
and writers, the average politician of Quebec or Ontario 
with similar elements of public opinion in the other Prov- 
inces; there was the smaller proportion of eligible single 
men in Quebec as compared with Ontario — ages 20 to 34 
showing 123,831 in Quebec (1911) compared with 201,400 
in Ontario. 

As a matter of fact, also, French Canadian ignorance of 
war issues and causes was no greater than that of the 
American people on August 4, 1914 — though, of course, 
150 years within the British Empire should have given 
them a wider outlook; another difference was that this 
ignorance remained wrapped up in a robe of racial isola- 
tion while the United States gradually caught the spirit 
of English-speaking thought as it shared in the atmosphere 
of language- similarity and racial intercourse. It must be 
remembered that Canada as a whole in this War went 
through a continuous educative process and it was greatly 
to Sir Robert Borden's credit that he understood the neces- 
sity of this process. The country had to pass from a condi- 
tion of extreme pacifism to one of continuous war-thought 
and an organized action which should replace the early 
enthusiasms caught and concentrated at Valcartier; it had 
to move toward the stage of personal, political and general 
recognition of the fact that its liberties and very existence 
were bound up with those of the Empire and Great Britain ; 
it had to abandon cherished ideals of individual freedom 
for Grovernment control of personal services ; finally it had 
to throw the strongest of these ideals to the winds and 
20 



298 CANADA AT WAR 

accept a compulsory military service which had never been 
dreamed of and was considered quite impossible even after 
two years of war. All these processes Quebec was expected 
to go through at the same time and at the same rate of 
speed as other Provinces. Yet its people were without the 
brilliant light of a language and press which trained the 
thought of a continent and voiced the feelings of Great 
Britain; without the ties of relationship which brought so 
many English Canadians close to their Motherland person- 
ally and also politically, socially, financially, commercially; 
without the pressure of knowledge and conviction and 
political action which came so naturally to the English- 
speaking masses of Canada; without special instruction, 
special Government appeal, or special and really necessary 
patriotic propaganda ; without, above all, any serious check 
upon unpatriotic Nationalist teachings. Too little may have 
been given by Quebec ; altogether too much was expected. 

Too much, also, was expected from French Canadian love 
for Prance. It was not really there ; it had been largely an 
eloquent figure of speech, or peroration to some verbal 
defiance of Ontario Orangeistes. The traditions of the 
French Canadian were those of Quebec during 300 
years of North American struggle and Indian conflict and 
Canadian development, of a vague affection, perhaps, in 
cultured circles for a France of the days of Louis XIV. 
With the modern country of republican infidelity there was 
little association and that little had come in for severe criti- 
cism at the hands of English Canadian extremists before the 
Entente in Europe because a useful fact. It was hard, how- 
ever, for English-speaking Canadians to understand this 
lack of regard for France in view of an oft-expressed devo- 
tion to the French language, or to appreciate the earnest 
belief that a language could conserve the faith of a race 
and preserve its isolated and cherished nationality. In 
1917 and 1918 the situation in Quebec had become one of 
almost complete misunderstanding as to the real position 



THE FEENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 399 

of the Province and the Empire in the War ; an equally pro- 
nounced misconception existed in Ontario and elsewhere as 
to the French Canadian. Quebec was not really a Province 
of slackers nor was Ontario one of slanderers; the people 
were so temperamentally different that a Bourassa and 
Le Devoir could lead an overwhelming public sentiment in 
one while a Hocken and an Orange Centinel would only lead 
a class or section in the other ; the Montreal Labour Council 
opposing National Service cards was really no worse than 
that of Winnipeg or Vancouver taking similar action; the 
tendency of rural regions in Quebec Province to avoid 
recruiting should have been more easy to condone than the 
vigorous fight of farmers in Ontario against Conscription 
when applied to their sons; the activity of some Catholic 
cures against Conscription, however it might be regretted, 
was no more church interference in politics than was the 
energetic Prohibition propaganda of the Methodists in 
Ontario ; the exodus of young men from Quebec to the States 
in order to avoid vague tales of possible compulsion stood 
with reports of a similar movement in 1916-17 along the 
Ontario and New Brunswick frontiers. On the other hand 
the policy of Ontario in regulating the teaching of English 
and French in separate schools attended by Irish as well 
as French Catholics and admittedly under Government 
jurisdiction, was no more dictated by hostility to Quebec 
than by hatred of the Catholic Church. 

As to War-action French Canadians did nearly as well in 
the First Contingent as native-born English Canadians, 
while official figures showed 16,268 French Canadians over- 
seas on March 31, 1918; the bravery of those who con- 
stituted the 22nd Battalion was illustrated at Courcelette 
and in the 125 decorations won by it up to the close of 1917 ; 
the military skill of Quebec officers was indicated in the 
success of Maj.-Gen. A. C. Joly de Lotbiniere, Brig.-Gen. 
H. G. de Lotbiniere, Brig.-Gen. J. P. Landry, c.m.g., Brig.- 
Gen. F. M. Gaudet, c.m.g., and Brig.-Gen. T. L. Tremblay, 



300 CANADA AT WAE 

C.M.G., D.s.o. ; the very names of enlistment showed that the 
best type of Quebec family had known its duty — Tas- 
chereau, Langelier, Garneau, Lemieux, Cimon, Dorion, 
Paquin, De Beaujcau, Casgrain, Papineau, Gouin, Archam- 
bault, De Lotbiniere, Laviolette, Panet, Pelletier, Fiset, 
Duchesnay, Le Blanc, Beaudry, Lacoste, Bruneau, Parent, 
De Salaberry, Brodeur, Dansereau, Beique, Baby, De 
Lanaudiere; contributions to Patriotic Funds were fair in 
view of the small average of wealth amongst French 
Canadians and the large average of a rural population 
which lived comfortably but had small cash margins. The 
total for all Quebec — including the generous English- 
speaking minority — showed $556,000 of contributions to 
the Red Cross up to October 31, 1917, and $8,781,098 to the 
Canadian Patriotic Fund up to December 31, 1917. To the 
latter French Canadians were conspicuous subscribers 
despite the fact that their English confreres possessed most 
of the wealth of the Province. 

The contributions in 1917 included $5,000 from the Hon. 
F. L. Beique, $12,500 from La Banque d'Hochelaga, $6,000 
from La Banque Provincial, $10,000 from Credit Foncier 
Franco-Canadian, $15,000 from La Seminaire de St. Sul- 
pice. So, also in other years. To the five Government "War 
Loans, Quebec Province contributed generously with a pro- 
portion of French Canadians which, in view of the rural 
lack of wealth and the urban lack of large capital, was good. 
The fact is illustrated by such subscriptions as those of 
1917 which included $50,000 from La Societe des Artisans 
Canadien Frangais, $80,000 from the town of La Tuque, 
$25,000 from Caron et Freres, Montreal, $10,000 from 
E. H. Lemay, Montreal, $25,000 each from A. N. Drolet, 
J. P. Cote and J. B. Renaud et Cie, Quebec, with $200,000 
from Hon. G. E. Amyot, Quebec, and $100,000 from Mme. 
L. J. Forget, Montreal, $70,000 from Hon. F. L. Beique 
and $10,000 from Le Seminaire de St. Sulpice. In 1918 a 
few of the subscribers were Hudon and Orsali, Montreal, 



THE FKENCH CANADIANS AND THE WAR 301 

$50,000, the City of Montreal $10,000, L. H. and M. Pin- 
sonnault $25,000 each, Archbishop Bruchesi and A. N. 
Bedard $10,000 each, Perrin Freres et Cie $20,000, 
Tetreault Shoe Mfg. Co. $15,000, Jos. Daonst and Wilfred 
Viau $50,000 each, J. A. Valliancourt $20,000, City of Joli- 
ette $15,000. The total for the Province in all five Loans 
was $274,000,000. To the combined appeal of the Eed Cross, 
Navy League, and Canadian War Contingent Association 
in November, 1918, Montreal contributed $1,293,000 and to 
the appeal of the Knights of Columbus in September that 
city gave $247,000. The Provincial Government with other 
and later grants such as that of $100,000 to the Navy League 
and Eed Cross in November, and subscriptions to the War 
Loans of $1,800,000, contributed the following sums to spe- 
cial War purposes up to May, 1918 : 

Donation to the Imperial Government, cheese to the vahie of $623,987 

Subscriptions to French-Canadian Hosuital in Paris 5,000 

Subscription to Relief Fxind for Belgian war victims 30,000 

Subscription to National Help Committee of Paris 39,096 

Subscription to British Sailor's Relief Fund 5,000 

Subscription to Imperial Hospitals Commission 12,000 

Subscription to Canadian Patriotic Fund 1,000,000 

Subscription to victims of Halifax disaster 100,000 

Y. M. C. A. Red Triangle Fund for Soldiers 25,000 

Total $1,840,083 

Summing up the situation, it would appear that Quebec 
in its response to the call of war did fairly well, that it 
would have done much better with a more systematized 
education in the issues involved and a more adequate reply 
to the continuous propaganda of the Nationalists ; that the 
Hierarchy of the Church did its duty but not more than its 
duty and that its degree of action was naturally influenced 
by the prayer of a part of its people for the protection of 
their Mother-tongue in Ontario; that the political leaders 
did not care, for obvious reasons in time of war, to raise 
any direct issue with Mr. Bourassa and his anti-British 
advocacy; that France did not make such an appeal to the 
hearts of the French Canadian as had been thought would 
prove the case in a great emergency. 



302 CANADA AT WAR 

If, also, Quebec in this War produced a Henri Bourassa 
it also contributed to National life a Talbot Papineau who, 
in his famous letter from the Front, could use such ringing 
words of appeal, of argument, of warning, as will stand 
clear-cut upon the pages of history. He proclaimed his 
patriotic creed as follows: ''Whatever criticisms may 
to-day be properly directed against the Constitutional struc- 
ture of the British Empire, we are compelled to admit that 
the spiritual union of the self-governing portions of the 
Empire is a most necessary and desirable thing. Surely you 
will concede that the degree of civilization which they rep- 
resent and the standards of individual and national liberty 
for which they stand are the highest and noblest to which 
the human race has yet attained and jealously to be pro- 
tected against destruction by less developed Powers. The 
bonds which unite us for certain great purposes and which 
have proved so powerful in this common struggle must not 
be loosened. They may indeed be readjusted, but the great 
communities which the British Empire has joined together 
must not be broken asunder. If I thought that the develop- 
ment of a national spirit in Canada meant antagonism to 
the spirit which unites the Empire to-day, I would utterly 
repudiate the idea of a Canadian nation and would gladly 
accept the most exacting of Imperial organic unions." 
Under all conditions indicated the people of Quebec 
deserved credit for what they actually did and do not 
deserve the wholesale, indiscriminating censure which, in 
these years, was at times applied to them in other parts of 
the Dominion for what they did not do. 



CHAPTEE XV 

UNION GOVEENMENT AND THE WAK ELECTIONS 

Out of all the multifarious ways in which the War 
affected Canada — united political action in the early 
stages, its decline and final success, industrial development 
and the munition controversies, recruiting with all its suc- 
cesses and failures and corollary of conscription, French 
Canadian problems and opinions. Parliamentary issues and 
legislation — there gradually evolved one great need and 
obvious requirement. The ideal of a united or national 
Government, in face of a serious crisis, or in days of a 
great war struggle such as this of 1914-18 became a nat- 
ural, instinctive impulse. It had long been a fact in Britain, 
though not always in name; it was a reality in France 
except for a small Socialist minority ; it became one in New 
Zealand in 1916 and in Australia during 1917; all parties 
in South Africa were united, excepting the incorrigible 
Hertzog following. At the beginning of the War the Lib- 
erals of Canada had stood instantly and loyally behind 
the Borden Government ; after a time rifts appeared in the 
co-operation and political differences developed ; then came 
greater problems evolved by the pressure of war — the fail- 
ure of recruiting, the situation in Quebec, the Conscrip- 
tion issue and enforcement when passed, the complications 
of Western thought and policy. At this stage Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier abandoned his co-operative attitude. He refused 
to join the Government in a recruiting appeal, he was 
understood from the first to be opposed to Conscription 
and finally fought it to the end, he keenly contested the 
War-times Election Act which disfranchised alien voters 
in the West, and refused to support a further extension of 
the Parliamentary term. 

[303] 



304 CANADA AT WAR 

Sir Robert Borden, as the head of the Government since 
war began — the only original War Premier left in the 
world at its close except General Botha of South Africa — 
was the chief target of attack, and also the rallying point 
of action. The Liberal press, in an increasing degree dur- 
ing 1916 and then 1917, denounced him as slow in thought 
and policy, lacking in all initiative, devoid of personal or 
political strength. The very keenness and continuous char- 
acter of this criticism proved the Premier to be a bigger 
man than his opponents would admit; at the same time 
the Opposition could not, or did not, suggest anyone who 
could take his place in party leadership and war-action — 
except, of course, their own Leader. As a matter of log- 
ical argument, if Sir Robert Borden was responsible for 
all the inevitable faults and weaknesses of a War Govern- 
ment in a nation of pacifists and of unpreparedness, he 
was also responsible for what was accomplished by 
that Government — for cabling and pledging Canadian 
co-operation two days before the War began, for having 
33,000 men ready to ship abroad in six weeks, for enlisting 
595,000 men and sending 420,000 overseas in four years, 
for keeping the industries of Canada going and building 
up a vast munition business of $1,000,000,000, for trebling 
Canada's trade in the year of war, for the establishment 
of pensions and a great Hospital system, for organizing 
a Soldier's settlement scheme, for large revenues, for taxa- 
tion of varied interests. The fact was that many others 
shared with him in these actual accomplishments just as 
others were in part responsible for delays or mistakes in 
administration during these stormy days. He was, in 
fact, a careful, earnest, sincere leader of his party and 
people in a most difficult period; anxious to do the best 
for Empire and country, conscious of the greatness of the 
task before all rulers in these years, know:ing much of the 
difficult and divergent temperaments of the Canadian pub- 
lic and the national danger of going too fast, as well as 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 305 

the inteTnational danger of going too slow. That he was 
a leader in fact as well as name his Cabinet and Parlia- 
mentary management showed ; that he had lots of political 
courage was proven by the fact of Conscription and the 
policy of Alien disfranchisement. 

Sir Wilfrid Laurier as Liberal leader had faced the 
problems of war without that personal vigour and ambition 
which middle life still affords ; with an inborn and ineradi- 
cable hatred of war and its conditions and necessities ; with 
a devotion to Canada as he saw and felt the pulse of its 
national life which made him greatly fear the current com- 
plications of Imperial development and the responsibil- 
ities arising from this veritable ''vortex of militarism"; 
with a natural love for his own race which made him 
understand and appreciate the causes of. their aloofness 
from the War and made him hesitate to force their hands. 
At the beginning of 1917 he was still a power in the coun- 
try. Qnebec was supposed to be his whenever he called 
the stakes unless too great a handicap were given Bour- 
assa; the West was full of war-restlessness, aversion to 
Tariffs, anxiety for the free trade which seemed to mean 
wider markets and for which the Liberal leader stood; 
Ontario and the Maritime Provinces had very many to 
whom the Laurier personality and record of 1896-1911 
greatly appealed. Like Sir Robert Borden the Liberal 
leader, in these later years, was a ''safe" man; he too was 
cautious — much more so than the Premier. As to War- 
action he issued a strongly worded message in the January 
(1917) Liberal Monthly which reviewed the obligations and 
work of the Allies, declared "it no vain national boast that 
the Canadian people have far exceeded the expectations 
laid down at the outset," and emphasized the need for 
greater Canadian effort and unity: "Let the young and 
healthy enlist, and those who cannot enlist serve the coun- 
try by work in the fields, in the forest, in the mines, on 
the sea and in the shops. Every individual in the nation 



306 CANADA AT WAR 

can work; every hour of toil is conducive to victory, and 
work should be specifically directed to that end." 

The Conservative press, at the beginning of 1917, looked 
askance at the idea of Union or National Government and 
regarded its advocacy by such Liberal journals as the Tor- 
onto Star with open suspicion, increased by the continu- 
ous attacks of that paper upon the Government's financial 
policy, the more than vigour ous onslaughts of The Globe 
upon Mr. Rogers as a member of the Government, the vehe- 
ment Government criticisms by the Regina Leader or 
Edmonton Bulletin. The tendency was to ask (1) what 
could or should a Coalition Government do which the Bor- 
den Government had not done; (2) what could such a Gov- 
ernment have done up to date which the Borden Govern- 
ment had not done; (3) how was such a Government, if 
created, to represent the varied masses, classes, races and 
interests of the Dominion without a War-election which 
should be avoided if possible; (4) how could Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier consistently join such a Government and what 
would be its value without him; (5) if purely professional 
and financial men such as Sir T. Shaughnessy, Sir W. 
Mackenzie or Sir Vincent Meredith were included, as some 
suggested, how could they, or would they, handle such ques- 
tions as Government ownership of railways? It was 
pointed out that in the United Kingdom the leaders of both 
great parties had been in favour of Coalition and, accord- 
ing to the Toronto News of March 28, that in Canada 
they were not; it was contended that the demand was 
merely a cry arising out of the discomforts of war con- 
ditions or the wishes of an Opposition out of office; the 
men who at this time commenced to advocate the policy 
were looked upon with suspicion as to party motives and, 
no doubt, the motives of some of them, then and after- 
wards, were clouded by this ever-present influence ; it was 
urged by such vigourous Conservative journals as the Win- 
nipeg Telegram that the Conservative Government had 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 307 

subordinated party to national war-purposes and was, 
therefore, a National Government; it was claimed that if 
Sir W. Laurier would not join in such a simple national 
object as a united appeal for enlistment and war service 
it would be quite impossible to obtain union upon all the 
complex issues dividing the two parties. 

There was, inevitably, a good deal of partisanship in 
the matter at all stages. If Sir Eobert Borden could be 
replaced as leader in a Coalition Cabinet by a colourless 
Conservative or a leading Liberal it would obviously be 
a triumph for the Opposition, and in such -a whispering 
gallery as Ottawa during the Session, or in the political 
correspondence of the press from Ottawa, there was no 
way of keeping party feeling out of the subject. Coalition 
was, therefore, up to the beginning of 1917, almost exclus- 
ively a Liberal propaganda so far as the press was con- 
cerned, though with support from the Toronto World and 
W F Maclean, m.p., from Sir Clifford Sifton and the Mani- 
toba Free Press, from the Bev. Dr. C. W. Gordon and some 
other elements not firmly partisan in war matters. The 
Premier's personal view was favourable but his pohcy 
obviously was to await the expression of national opinion 
and with attendance at the Imperial Conference for some 
months looming up, he left the subject for public consid- 
eration and the development of some crisis which would 
make political union imperative and therefore possible. 
His last words to Parliament before leaving for London 
(February 7) were significant: ''I hope that we may 
all unite to throw the full strength of this country into 
the contest. I most earnestly invite the co-operation of 
o-entlemen opposite and the co-operation of all the people 
hi this countrv, regardless of race or of creed, to make 
this cause triumphant and to throw into this war the great- 
est effort of a united people." 

Meanwhile the leaders did not commit themselves except 
that, at North Bay, before the Canadian Club on May 16, 



308 CANADA AT WAR 

N. W. Eowell, the Liberal leader in Ontario, came out defi- 
nitely for Coalition of some kind: ''Do yoiii see any hope 
of our moving forward as a united nation, exerting our 
utmost efforts to win the War, and grappling courageously 
with our own domestic problems, unless we create a War 
Government? Do we not need a Grovemment which will 
command the confidence of the people, which will command 
the confidence of the whole people, which will have the 
moral authority to adopt the measures necessary to meet 
the present critical situation, and which will move cour- 
ageously and quickly along the path of duty, irrespective 
of personal or party consideration 1 ' ' During these months 
public opinion distinctly grew more favourable to coali- 
tion of some kind and Canadian Clubs, Boards of Trade, 
Clerical speakers, an increasing number of newspapers and 
politicians, various conventions and public gatherings, 
declared in favour of the idea. The discussion, however, 
remained tentative and preparatory for conditions which 
far-seeing men felt were inevitable; yet it was lacking in 
leadership and light upon the basic issues involved. It 
remained for the Prime Minister, on his return from Eng- 
land and presentation to the country of the imperative 
need for Conscription and united effort, to give the vital 
impetus which the somewhat sluggish movement required. 
No hint was given in the Premier's speech on this subject 
(May 18), as to coalition; nor was much said about it 
for some days except as to the difficulties of enforcing 
Conscription by a party Government with the overhang- 
ing prospect, also, of a general election. 

Then, on May 27, it became suddenly clear that a 
re-organization of the Government, in order to face the new 
issues involved, was on the tapis. Sir Eobert Borden (May 
28) asked the Opposition leader to meet him on the fol- 
lowing day and then explained fully the War situation as 
he had been advised of it in detail during recent meetings 
of the Imperial War Cabinet and in the freest possible dis- 



UNION GOVEENMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 309 

cussions with British leaders ; stated the conclusion he had 
come to that compulsory military service was essential to 
carry on Canada's military work and duty and explained 
the provisions of the proposed Bill; suggested the forma- 
tion of a Coalition Government and asked the co-operation 
of Sir Wilfrid Laurier upon the basis that outside of the 
Prime Minister, each of the two political parties should 
have an equal representation in the Cabinet; urged the 
importance of avoiding, if possible, a war-time Election. 
The Liberal leader replied* with an expression of regret 
that he had not been consulted prior to the announcem.ent 
as to Conscription; with the statement that he "dreaded 
very serious difficulties" if such a law were passed by the 
existing Parliament ; with advice against holding any Cau- 
cus meeting during negotiations and the statement that he 
would consult Sir Lomer Grouin and other friends. He 
also intimated that Conscription should not be enforced 
until approved at a Referendum or general election. 

At the same time the Premier formulated his proposals 
in writing as follows: ''That a Coalition Government 
should be formed ; that the Military Service Bill should be 
passed; that a pledge should be given not to enforce it 
until after a general election; and that Parliament should 
be dissolved and the Coalition Government should seek a 
mandate from the people." Further conferences of the 
leaders followed on June 1; on the 2nd an Opposition 
caucus took place, and on the 4th the leaders held a brief 
conference, with the personnel of the proposed Govern- 
ment said to be under consideration and no insuperable 
difficulties anticipated — according to Sir Wilfrid Lau- 
rier 's letter of June 6 following. Then something hap- 
pened. As Sir Wilfrid stated in this letter no impassable 
or serious divergence existed — with intimate questions 
affecting membership as the chief subject of discussion. Yet 
on the 6th a final conference was held and to quote his own 

* Narrative given in a letter to the Prime Minister dated June 6 and made 
public on the 7th. 



310 CANADA AT WAR 

words to the Premier Sir A¥ilfrid said: ''I answered that 
I had not seen my way clear to join the Government on the 
terms proposed. I asked you at the same time if Conscrip- 
tion was the only basis, to which you replied in the affirma- 
tive. ' ' The reason advanced for the refusal was, therefore, 
Conscription; but that issue was the same on May 28 and 
June 1 or 4, as it was on the 6th! 

Difficulties within both parties were obvious. The 
French Canadians were almost a unit against the Com- 
pulsion Act and any Coalition aimed at its passage and 
enforcement ; Western Liberal leaders, though they did not 
come into this stage of the discussion, were not, outside 
of Manitoba, inclined to be favourable; many active Lib- 
erals, everywhere, believed at this time that a general 
election would return Sir Wilfrid to power, solve the Que- 
bec issue, give the West freer trade and Reciprocity, pro- 
mote recruiting by new and more united effort. Moreover, 
the continued retention of Hon. R. Rogers in the Cabinet 
was a Liberal stumbling-block and probably the chief per- 
sonal difficulty involved. The Premier, also, had no easy 
task in his own party. Leading Conservative members and 
men on the back-benohes, alike, were suspicious of Liberal 
aims and policy; resentful of the continuous attacks upon 
Sir R. Borden himself; angry at the extreme bitterness of 
the onslaughts upon Mr. Rogers by The Globe; scornful as 
to Quebec and the Laurier or Nationalist attitude and 
skeptical as to the West and its free-trade Grain Growers. 
A new situation opened up as the result of Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier 's refusal to join- a Coalition Government. The let- 
ters between the leaders as made public on June 7 told 
the story of negotiations concisely and showed clearly that 
whatever the cause of the breakdown between June 4 
and 6, the present and coming issue was between Borden 
and Conscription and Laurier and no-Conscription, with a 
general election essential to the settlement of the question. 
As Sir Robert put it in his reply: *'I was convinced that 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 311 

compulsory service was necessary, and must be included 
in the policy of the proposed Coalition. You, on the other 
hand, decided that you could not accept such a policy, and 
that you could not join a Government which adopted it." 
Both leaders met their Parties in caucus and explained 
the situation, and it looked for the moment as if the Union 
project were killed. Several things, however, emerged out 
of what the Liberal press called a muddle, or a mess, and 
what the Conservative press was inclined to regard as a 
condition of good political strategy on the Premier's part 
as well as sound patriotism. His followers believed that 
he had put the Opposition in a difficult position — one which 
involved the certain disruption of the Liberal party with 
a loss to the Conservatives of only a few seats in Quebec. 
Many of them hoped the issue would be left at that and a 
distinct party gain scored. But Sir Robert Borden was not 
playing politics ; he had entered upon a course which was 
difficult and perhaps in the end politically dangerous; he 
intended to see it through for patriotic and war reasons 
and the courage, patience and persistence which he showed 
in the next few months fill a conspicuous page in Canada's 
history. His speech in Caucus (June 7) was a stirring 
appeal to meet the War-crisis, to realize the sufferings of 
the soldiers, to support and strengthen the Government 
which was determined to support the men at the Front. 
In presenting the Conscription Bill to* Parliament on June 
11 the Premier was explicit as to the need of unity: 

It was my strong desire to bring about a union 
of all parties for the purpose of preventing any 
such disunion or strife as is apprehended. That 
effort was an absolutely sincere one, and I do not 
regret that it was made, although the delay which 
it occasioned may have given opportunity for 
increased agitation (in Quebec) and for excite- 
ment arising from misunlerstanding. I went so 
far as to agree that this Bill should not become 
effective until after a general election, in the hope 
that by this means all apprehension would be 



312 CANADA AT WAE 

allayed, and that there might be a united effort to 
fulfil the great national purpose of winning this 
war. What may be necessary or expedient in that 
regard, I am yet willing to consider, for ever since 
this war began I have had one constant aim and 
it was this : to throw the full power and effort of 
Canada into the scale of right, liberty and justice 
for the winning of this war, and to maintain the 
unity of the Canadian people in that effort. 

This desire had been the cause of delay in presenting 
the Bill; this was the reason for that period of waiting 
which followed the Premier's announcement of May 18 
and which the Liberal press so resented. He wanted to 
have it dealt with by a reasonably united Parliament and 
not a party-divided one. It soon became clear, also, that 
Sir Eobert intended to continue his effort to form a non- 
party or Union Government ; that consultations would con- 
tinue with the secondary Liberal leaders and groups ; that 
every possible condition would be admitted and a willing- 
ness to compromise shown on any point except the funda- 
mental one of war-action. This effort at political unity 
lasted through the vital debates in Parliament on Con- 
scription, and regarding .the Liberal leader's refusal to 
extend the Parliamentary term. During this stage in the 
Union Government movement one after another of the 
active, working leaders of Liberalism found it imperative 
to vote against Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his negative policy 
or Eeferendum plan. Each of those votes made Coalition 
easier and the Premier more determined. To a mere party 
man, bent upon winning an ensuing Election, these evi- 
dences of Opposition disintegration would have been satis- 
factory; but to the Premier they were only finger-posts 
pointing the way to union. A nation-wide discussion of the 
issue followed — with 26 dissentient Liberals announced in 
Parliament — on the Conscription issue. Sir Clifford Sif- 
ton, a former Liberal Minister, issued a clarion call on 
July 3 for national war unity and a Union War Gov- 







8w 



'"3 
O 

d 
d 
d 






o 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 313 

ernment; on July 26 Mr. Eowell told Ms constituents in 
North Oxford that he favoured a National Government, 
and would support Conscription. 

Then another and Liberal phase of the situation devel- 
oped. On July 26 a Convention of Liberal editors from 
all over Ontario declared by Eesolution that : ' ' Sir Eobert 
Borden and his Government have proved themselves 
unequal to these tasks. No other purely party Govern- 
ment at the present time can deal with them. A war Cab- 
inet and Government representing both parties and the 
strong forces of the nation working for the winning of the 
War is, therefore, necessary. ' ' The reference to Sir Robert 
Borden and his leadership was resented by The News and 
other Conservative papers and was, in fact, followed on 
the 27th by a vigorous attack in The Star upon the Premier 
and his Government, while The Glohe of the same date 
declared that: ''The question of a union Administration 
cannot be considered apart from its personnel. Some mem- 
bers of the present Government are impossible because of 
incompetence or worse. Some Liberals may be named for 
office who would be equally unacceptable.'* The attitude 
of this journal had not, as yet, been favourable to Union 
Government; even when the idea became more generally 
acceptable it did not want Borden leadership and expressed 
continued hostility to certain members of the Cabinet. 
Meantime, the Bonne Entente movement of 1916, the 
National Unity plan of earlier in 1917, had developed into 
a Win-the-War and National Government advocacy with 
J. M. Godfrey and others as the promoters of a new Con- 
vention which was held in Toronto on August 2-3. It 
declared by Resolution that *'the Prime Minister should, 
without delay, form a National non-partisan Government, 
representative of all who demand vigourous prosecution of 
the War." On August 4 Sir Robert Borden received a 
deputation from this Convention and to them made his first 
21 



314 CANADA AT WAR 

public comment upon the personal difficulties of his posi- 
tion and intimated that he was still working for Union : 

The responsibilities entailed upon the leader of 
a Government in a country such as ours, and under 
the conditions which have prevailed during the 
past three years, are extremely onerous, more so 
than can be realized by anyone who has not striven 
to fulfil them. But however severe, and even over- 
powering, they must be fulfilled to the full limit 
of one's strength and capacity. Like the men in 
the trenches, a Minister, under such conditions, 
must remain at his post until he is granted an 
honourable discharge. It has become more and 
more apparent during recent months that party 
differences must be sunk and all forces united in 
the effort to win the War. My endeavours for 
that end during recent weeks have not been wholly 
made public, but those who have an intimate 
knowledge of public affairs during that period are 
aware that no effort on my part has been want- 
ing. It is appropriate on this occasion to make 
my fellow-countrymen fully acquainted with my 
desire and intentions. I hope that in the near 
future a Government may be formed, based upon 
a union of all persons, irrespective of party, race 
and creed, who believe that the struggle which we 
now wage is for the success of liberty and justice, 
wh© realize that it involves the destiny of our 
Dominion, of this Empire, and even of the world, 
and who, putting aside all differences on minor 
significance, are prepared to join in a united and 
determined effort to throw into the conflict the 
full power and strength of this Dominion. 

While these movements and efforts were proceeding the 
Premier had been quietly working toward the same end. 
The Liberals generally believed to have been approached 
included N. W. Eowell, Toronto ; Hon. G. H. Murray, Hali- 
fax; F. F. Pardee, Sarnia; Hugh Guthrie, Guelph; A. K. 
Maclean, Halifax; Michael Clark, Eed Deer; G. E. 
McCraney, Saskatoon; H. A. Eobson, Winnipeg; and Hon. 
J. A. Calder, Eegina; while F. B. Carvell, Hon. G. P. 



UNION GOVEENMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 315 

Graham and others, such as Sir John Eaton, Sir Wm. 
Hearst, and Lord Shaughnessy were mentioned more or 
less seriously. Despite rumours, no further advance was 
made to Sir Wilfrid Laurier. On August 9 the Gov- 
enor-General summoned a number of prominent men to a 
conference at Government House. No statement of pro- 
ceedings was made public but it was announced that besides 
H. E. the Duke of Devonshire there were present Sir Eob- 
ert Borden, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Hon. G. P. Graham, Lord 
Shaughnessy, Sir Lomer Gouin, Archbishop Mathieu of 
Eegina, Sir George Foster and Sir Clifford Sifton. It was 
an effort to bring together those who might help in such 
a Coalition as the Premier was working for. That it had 
some good results was probable ; that it would not greatly 
influence the Quebec leaders was obvious from Sir Wil- 
frid Laurier 's determined position and Sir Lomer Gouin 's 
statement in Montreal on August 2: *'The attitude of 
the Province of Quebec is sincere. To us it appears that 
a Government elected six years ago on a programme con- 
taining not one word pertaining to Military matters is not 
a Government which should impose Conscription on Canada 
to-day. Let us have elections, and if the majority of the 
Canadian people declare in favour of Conscription I am 
convinced that our Province, like the- others, will submit 
to the people's will." He expressed approval of the 
Laurier attitude since the beginning of the Session. This 
incident, the passage of Conscription and other legislation, 
the clear evidence of Quebec's antagonism to the Govern- 
ment's policy or to a Coalition, the reasonable assurance 
of Ontario's favourable attitude, the coming of a Western 
Conference which would clear the air in those four Prov- 
inces, marked the close of Sir Robert's first efforts for 
Union Government. 

The position of the West was a ^dtal one in the forma- 
tion of the proposed Administration as it also promised 
to be in a general election. Its political leaders were a 



316 CANADA AT WAR 

vigourous, fighting group of men, second to none in ability 
and superior to many in concentrated purpose and aggres- 
sive beliefs. Allied with Quebec or Sir Wilfrid Laurier 
against Conscription they would have made the issue more 
than uncertain; standing aside from both parties they 
would have held the balance of power against any Gov- 
ernment under existing conditions. Sir Clifford Sifton 
had made some vigourous Western speeches in favour of 
the project which his powerful organ the Winnipeg Free 
Press was supporting; on the other hand the four Liberal 
Premiers looked upon the subject with some suspicions 
and apparently, also, resented the Sifton intervention. In 
July it was announced that a great Liberal Convention 
would be held which was to represent the West and the 
West alone. Amongst these politicians as they assembled 
at Winnipeg on August 7 there was full comprehension 
of the fact that in any coming elections the West, from the 
Great Lakes to the Pacific, would have 57 representatives 
instead of 35 and possess one-third of the total member- 
ship of the Commons instead of about one-fifth. With it 
all there was confidence that if they were united they could 
carry the West for the Federal House as they had done in 
Provincial contests and the feeling that the Foreign vote 
was safe to go against the Borden Government and Con- 
scription. There was nothing particularly wrong to a loyal 
politician in this latter point. The votes were there, some- 
one should poll them, thej^ had largely gone Liberal in 
recent Provincial contests, it was obvious that they would 
be unlikely to support a war-policy in which they felt only 
the burdens and none of the sentiment of national life. 

It was a great Convention and enthusiastically Liberal; 
it was anti-Government and anti-Borden beyond all doubt. 
Its War-policy resolution declared that ''in times of peril 
the entire resources of the country, moral and material, 
man-power and wealth, are justly disposable by the State 
for the preservation of its national liberties '^ and that 



UNION GOVEENMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 317 

the ''imperative duty of the people of Canada to-day in 
regard to the War is its continued and vigourous prose- 
cution"; its resolution as to Sir Wilfrid Laurier expressed 
''hope that his undoubted ability, his long experience and 
matchless statesmanship may be utilized in re-uniting the 
people of Canada in this great crisis, in the successful 
prosecution of the War and in carrying out the platform 
laid down by this Convention"; a Party resolution as to 
the Borden Government declared that it had exhibited gross 
incompetency and inefficiency and was no longer entitled 
to public confidence. There was public discussion of these 
proceedings and various Liberals throughout the country 
expressed disapproval; at the same time it really looked 
as if the Western Liberal Governments were finally lined 
up, after some indecision, against Coalition. Whatever 
the forces behind the conclusions of the Convention, its atti- 
tude marked the highest point of the opposition to Sir 
Robert Borden and his Union proposals and showed that 
Liberalism in the West, though divided in its ranks, con- 
tained a very strong element against Coalition with a 
strong desire for general elections and a party decision. 
Eastern Liberalism being also divided, with much vigour- 
ous support for the Union Government ideal, together with 
a natural desire in many quarters that such a Govern- 
ment should have a Liberal or non-Conservative head, the 
issue became complex. As to the leadership there was no 
doubt that a united Conservative party, outside of Que- 
bec, was willing to follow Sir Robert in a re-organization 
of his own Government to affect a Coalition but was abso- 
lutely unwilling to hand over the reigns of power to any 
Liberal leader. 

The question, therefore, was clearly one of a re-organiza- 
tion such as the Premier had so long urged or a general 
election fought amid chaotic conditions with a confused 
and divided Liberalism, a Conservative party without 
French Canadian support, a Quebec united behind its own 



318 CANADA AT WAR 

leader, a West with at least one certain vote — the French 
Canadians and the naturalized aliens. For a short time 
following the Convention even Unionist Liberals were 
disposed to doubt the possibility of the Prime Minister 
being able to succeed in his efforts. At this juncture came 
the resignation of Mr. Eogers as Minister of Public Works 
and the removal of one of the chief reasons given by many 
Liberals for not supporting the Premier's effort; almost 
at the same time came the introduction to Parliament of 
the Military Voters Bill which ensured a large Soldiers* 
vote for the Government, and on August 20 a gathering 
at Ottawa of Western Liberal public men, concerned in the 
Union Government discussions — Sir Clifford Sif ton, his 
brother Hon. A. L. Sif ton, Premier of Alberta; Hon. J. A. 
Calder, Minister of Public Works, Saskatchewan; H. W. 
Wood, President of the United Farmers of Alberta ; T. A. 
Crerar, Winnipeg, President of the Grain Growers' Co.; 
and J. G. Turriff, m.p. 

Concurrently with these events and following the Con- 
vention there was played at Ottawa a game of politics and 
patriotism so intermixed, so cleverly manipulated, so 
resourceful and varied in weapon and method as to have no 
precedent in Canadian history. For months Sir Eobert 
Borden had pressed, with tact and diplomacy and honest 
earnestness, his project of Union Government, his appeal 
to the non-partisan sentiment of Parliament and the coun- 
try at a serious crisis in world affairs ; his effort to avert 
a general election and then, when it became inevitable, to 
prevent it from being chaotic and unfruitful in result and 
to make clear, also, the delaying evils of a Eeferendum on 
Conscription; his fear that an isolated and hostile Quebec 
might be established in the midst of Confederation unless 
the Conscription issue could be taken out of politics. Now, 
when it became clear that Sir Wilfrid Laurier and many 
of his followers, both East and West, wanted a general elec- 
tion, the Premier used every point of political vantage 



UNION GOVEENMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 319 

which could come to him as a Party leader. Conciliation 
enlarged the split in Liberal ranks; he had never been a 
vehement disputant or shown personal feeling in politics 
and during this difficult session he kept the House upon as 
even a keel as possible. The War-time Franchise Act 
brought in a large electorate of women voters who would 
probably be friendly to the Government — the near rela- 
tives of men at the front — and disfranchised the large 
Western alien element which was undoubtedly hostile to 
both Government and War-policy. The attitude taken in 
presenting an Address to the King, asking for the exten- 
sion of Parliament and at the same time stating that it 
would not be pressed unless given large Liberal support, 
put the onus of a war election upon Sir W. Laurier and 
his party. Taken altogether the Session, both before and 
after this last stage in his Union Government efforts, 
showed the Premier to be a stronger and more able man 
than his opponents had dreamed of and a more adroit and 
firmer leader than his own followers had believed him to be. 
From August 20 onward the negotiations at Ottawa and 
elsewhere assumed an active and absorbing form. Much 
depended upon Mr. Calder. The position of Hon. A. L. 
Sifton, representing Alberta and accompanied to Ottawa 
by H. W. Wood, was known at this time to be favourable, 
as was that of the Manitoba Government, as a whole, with 
T. A. Crerar representing the Grain Growers of that Prov- 
ince. But Mr. Calder was at this time the leading Liberal 
of the West in many respects ; he was an expert organizer 
and had been looked upon as the Opposition's chief Western 
support in that connection; he was a shrewd and far-see- 
ing politician. On the 22nd it was announced that Messrs. 
Calder, Sifton, Wood and Crerar had left for the West; 
on the 23rd they met in Winnipeg and conferred with Mr. 
Premier Martin and Hon. C. A. Dunning of Saskatchewan 
and Hon. A. B. Hudson of the Manitoba Government. On 
August 29 the Conservative caucus met at Ottawa and 



320 CANADA AT WAK 

tendered the Prime Minister a demonstration of affection 
and support. Sir Robert reviewed the negotiations from 
his first effort to obtain Sir W. Laurier's adhesion to pro- 
posals for an equal representation of prominent Liberals 
and Conservatives; stated that three of the Western lead- 
ers had wired him from Winnipeg on August 23 that "they 
favoured a National Government and the formation of a 
War Council of six, of which Sir Robert Borden should be 
one, but they thought a change of leadership essential and 
suggested four gentlemen, of whom Sir George E. Foster 
was first named, and added the understanding that all three 
gentlemen would, under another leader, be willing to serve 
together with strong Eastern colleagues." 

Sir Robert went on to say that the question of forming 
a Union Government, based upon the support of all ele- 
ments of the population prepared to join in an earnest 
effort to help in winning the War, was above personal or 
party consideration. He strongly emphasized his convic- 
tion that any question as to the personal status or political 
fortunes of any individual was utterly insignificant and 
expressed his absolute willingness to retire altogether, or 
to serve under Sir George Foster, if the result would be 
to unite all elements of the population and have them 
represented in a Union Government. Sir George Foster 
followed and emphasized the warm friendship and 
co-operation which had existed between Sir Robert and 
himself, his appreciation of the immensity of the task that 
had confronted the Prime Minister since the outbreak of 
hostilities and of the untiring patience and devotion that 
had held him to the performance of duties — during which 
he had acquired vast knowledge of conditions and require- 
ments not only in Canada but Overseas as well. He was 
willing to serve in any capacity but firmly believed that 
the full strength of the country would not be available 
unless Sir Robert Borden remained at the head of the 



UNION GOVEKNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 331 

Government. Amidst a scene of enthusiasm the following 
Resolution was approved: 

We, the supporters of Sir Eobert Borden's Gov- 
ernment in the Parliament of Canada, record our 
emphatic approval of that Government's policy 
and achievements during these three years of war. 
We endorse the earnest and patient efforts of the 
Prime Minister to bring about a union of all the 
war forces of Canada and to give to this Dominion 
in these days of ever-increasing stress, sutfering 
and peril, the advantage of an Administration 
which would typify that union' and speak to the 
world the unswerving resolution of our people to 
see this war through to victory. For the purpose 
of such union we are, one and all, prepared to 
make any personal or party sacrifice that the occa- 
sion may demand. We record unanimously our 
profound admiration of the great work and splen- 
did leadership of Sir Robert Borden. We sin- 
cerely believe that no other man can discharge with 
like capacity the tremendous task of Prime Min- 
ister during this crisis and that now, of all times, 
his continuance in the Premiership is indispens- 
able to the nation and to his support we pledge 
our unalterable devotion. 

This Conservative attitude, coupled mth i:he known aver- 
sion of many Conservatives to any Coalition and the 
aggressive position of many Western Liberals as to a new 
leader who should not be Sir Robert, appeared once more 
to kill the project and a large part of the press began to 
line up for the Elections and to discuss party politics. But 
the patient persistence of the Prime Minister was not even 
yet fully appreciated. Elements of increasing popular sup- 
port, also, were soon shown and resolutions passed by 
public meetings or interviews with public men poured into 
Ottawa. Meanwhile, also, the War-times Election Act had 
been introduced (September 6) and was slowly passing 
through Parliament, while its electoral significance was 
permeating political thought. It was announced at the 
same time that Sir Robert intended to re-organize his Cab- 



332 CANADA AT WAR 

inet at the close of the Session ; Parliamentary debates over 
the War Franchise Bill became vehement and aroused 
strong party feeling. On the 10th the Prime Minister had 
replied to an inquiry from E. P. Davis, k.c, a leading Van- 
couver Liberal, that : " It is both my purpose and my expec- 
tation to form a Union Government before the general 
election, which is now imminent. As you are aware, I 
have during the past three and one-half months used my 
best endeavours for that purpose which has been publicly 
announced. . . . If it should prove impossible to form 
a Union Government before the general election I shall 
certainly do so if I should be returned to power. ' * By Sep- 
tember 24 negotiations were in full swing again with Mr. 
Premier Sifton back in Ottawa after spending some days 
in Winnipeg; with N. W. Rowell, m.l.a., touring the West 
and meeting Mr. Calder in Winnipeg, and Hon. H. C. Brew- 
ster and Senator Bostock at Eegina ; with Hon. J. D. Reid 
taking advice in Toronto and acting for the Premier who 
was recuperating from a slight illness in the wilds of 
Labelle County, Quebec. 

On the 28th it was stated in the press that Messrs. Sifton, 
Calder and Crerar of the West had reconsidered their posi- 
tion and would come in, and on October 2 Messrs. Calder, 
Carvell, Ballantyne and others were at the capital. The 
next day a practical step in reconstruction was taken by 
the swearing in of Hugh Guthrie, k.c, m.p., as Solicitor- 
General — a position vacant since Mr. Meighen became 
Secretary of State — and Lieut.-Colonel C. C. Ballantyne 
as Minister of Public Works in place of Hon. R. Rogers. 
Colonel Ballantyne was a well-known business man, 
ex-President of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association 
and a moderate Liberal who had never taken part in poli- 
tics; Mr. Guthrie was a life-long exponent of Liberalism 
who had been in Parliament since 1900. Following this 
event Ontario began to take action. Its politicians had 
been more or less quiescent on this issue for a time because 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 323 

the feeling in its Liberal ranks was well known and it was 
felt that if the West could be won over there would be no 
serious difficulty as to this part of the East. A meeting 
of Conscriptionist-Liberals was held in Toronto on Sep- 
tember 24, attended by many representative party men; 
the political pot began to boil with Sir Wilfrid Laurier 
in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto trying to hold his fol- 
lowers together; conferences of Western and Eastern men 
who were considering Coalition were being held at Ottawa ; 
Conscription, the enfranchisement of women closely related 
to soldiers and the disfranchisement of Western Aliens had 
become law; negotiations went on steadily in the various 
centres with ever-increasing evidence that a solution would 
be found. On October 12, 1917, the official announcement 
was made that success had come to the Prime Minister's 
prolonged efforts and that: ''The delays incidental to the 
formation of a Union Government were no more than might 
have been anticipated, as the difficulties were immensely 
greater than those which occur in the formation of a 
strictly party Government. The conferences which have 
been taking place during the past four days have been char- 
acterized by a very earnest and sincere purpose on the 
part of all concerned to bring about the formation of a 
Union or National Government. ' ' The new Ministers were 
announced and were to be sworn in on the 13th. The Union 
Government as finally constituted was as follows: 

Department Minister Politics 
Prime Minister and Minister of 

External Affairs Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Laird Borden. . . Cons. 

President of the Privy Council. . . Hon. Newton Wesley Rowell, K.c. . . Lib. 

Minister of Trade and Commerce. . Rt. Hon. Sir George Eulas Fo'=!+er. . . Cons. 

Minister of Public Works Hon. Frank Bradstreet Carvell Lib. 

Minister of the Interior Hon. Arthur Meighen, K.c Cons. 

Minister of Railways and Canals . . Hon. John Dowsley Reid Cons. 

Minister of Finance Hon. Sir Wm. Thomas White Cons. 

Postmaster-General Lieut.-Col. Pierre Edouard Blondin. . Cons. 

Minister of Marine and Fisheries 

and Naval Service Hon. Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne. Lib. 

Minister of Justice Hon. Charles Joseph Doherty, k.c . . . Cons. 



3M CANADA AT WAK 

Department Minister Polities 

Minister of Militia and Defence.. . . Maj.-Gen. Sydney Chilton Mewburn.. Lib. 

Secretary of State Hon. Martin Burrell Cons. 

Minister of Labour Hon. Thomas Wilson Crothers, K.c . . Cons. 

Minister of Inland Revenue Hon. J. P. Albert Sevigny Cons. 

Minister of Customs Hon. Arthur Lewis Sif ton Lib. 

Minister of Agriculture Hon. Thomas Alexander Crerar Lib. 

Minister of Militia — Overseas . . . Hon. Sir Albert Edward Kemp Cons. 

Minister of Immigration and Colo- 
nization Hon. James Alexander Calder Lib. 

Solicitor-General Hon. Hugh Guthrie, K.c Lib. 

Minister Without Portfolio Hon. Gideon Decker Robertson Lib. 

Minister Without Portfolio Hon. Alexander K. Maclean, K.c Lib. 

Minister Without Portfolio Hon. Frank Cochrane Cons. 

Minister Without Portfolio Sir James Alexander Lougheed Cons. 

The retiring Ministers were Sir G. H. Perley, Hon. F. 
Cochrane, Hon. W. J. Roche, Hon. J. D. Hazen; Messrs. 
Rogers and Patenaude had gone before the re-organization 
took place. Of the new Ministers Mr. Carvell had long been 
an outstanding figure in aggressive Liberalism, fearless in 
criticism and comment, honest in character and political 
repute ; Mr. Crerar was not a politician of the old type but 
a man of wide agricultural experience and an effective 
and able leader in Western public affairs and interests of 
a special kind ; Mr. Calder was a master of political organ- 
ization and detail, a keen student of Western political 
thought and a leader of distinct initiative ; Mr. Sif ton was 
a silent, capable man who had proved that a good judge 
could also be a strong politician; General Mewburn was a 
patriotic soldier with clear organizing ability along mili- 
tary lines and an experience which specially fitted him for 
his new position; Mr. Rowell stood for social reform and 
what might be called higher politics — an eloquent, patri- 
otic and forceful public man; Colonel Ballantyne as a 
manufacturer, business man and financier had won promi- 
nence in the life of Montreal ; Mr. Robertson had for some 
time been a progressive yet moderate representative of 
Labour in the Senate and Mr. Maclean had been for years 
a conspicuous figure in the public life of Nova Scotia and, 



UNION GOVEENMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 335 

in Parliament, was the chief Opposition critic in financial 
matters. 

Of the older Ministers, the Conservatives who continued 
in office, Sir George Foster was Doyen in years and elo- 
quence and experience; Sir Thomas White was a financial 
leader whose abilities and war policy had won him the 
respect of the whole country; Mr. Meighen was a man of 
great executive, rhetorical and administrative ability; Sir 
James Lougheed had succeeded as a politician in every 
task he had been given and his leadership of the Senate 
had been tactful and effective; Mr. Burrell had made an 
excellent Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Doherty a quiet and 
industrious Minister of Justice; Sir Edward Kemp had 
done particularly good work in the War Purchasing Com- 
mission, Mr. Crothers had never been afraid to express 
his views on Labour questions and Dr. Eeid had been a 
careful administrator in frequent charge of Railways as 
well as of his own Department; Colonel Blondin and Mr. 
Sevigny had passed through various stages of French 
Canadian public life and now represented, with typical 
courtesy and courage, the best thought of their Province. 
The press tributes to the Prime Minister wliich followed 
were many, and unstinted in praise of his far-seeing, 
patient statecraft in this vital matter. The new Government 
had only been formed a few days when it issued a state- 
ment of war-policy, a programme of principles and prac- 
tice, which was intended to appeal to the dominant senti- 
ment of the country and to prove that the new non-political 
dispensation was energetic and intended to be effective. 
On October 18 the Prime Minister, after consultation with 
his colleagues, stated that: "The Union Government has 
been formed with a desire to give representation to all 
elements of the population supporting the purpose and 
effort of Canada in the War. Eepresentative men of both 
political parties are included in its personnel, and it is 
intended forthwith to give to Labour special representa- 



326 CANADA AT WAR 

tion. . . . The lines of policy to be followed chiefly 
relate to the prosecution of the War and to the consid- 
eration and solution of problems arising during its progress 
or which will supervene upon the conclusion of peace." 
They were outlined as follows: 

1. The vigourous prosecution of the War, the 
maintenance of Canada's effort by the provision 
of necessary reinforcements, the immediate 
enforcement of the Military Service Act and the 
most thorough co-operation with the Governments 
of the United Kingdom and of the other Domin- 
ions in all matters relating to the War. 

2. Civil Service Eeform, with a view to extend- 
ing the principle of the present Civil Service Act 
to the outside Service, and thus to abolish patron- 
age and to make appointments upon the sole 
standard of merit, with preference to returned 
soldiers who are duly qualified. 

3. The extension of the Franchise to women, 
with suitable provisions for enabling married 
women to determine their nationality and to obtain 
naturalization notwithstanding marriage. 

4. Adequate taxation of War Profits and 
increased taxation of Income as necessitated by 
the continuance of the War. 

5. A strong and progressive policy of Immi- 
gration and Colonization, accompanied by suitable 
provisions to induce settlement upon the land, to 
encourage increased agricultural production, and 
to aid in the development of Agricultural 
resources. 

6. Effective arrangements for Demobilization, 
for the care and vocational training of returned 
soldiers, for assistance in enabling them to settle 
upon the land, and for adequate pensions to those 
who have been disabled and to the dependents of 
those who have fallen. 

7. The development of Transportation facili- 
ties, the co-operative management of the various 
railway systems so as to secure economy in opera- 
tion, to avoid unnecessary construction and to 
secure the widest and most effective use of exist- 
ing railway facilities; the encouragement and 



UNION GOVEKNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 327 

development of the ship-building industry and the 
establishment of steamship lines upon both Oceans 
and upon the Great Lakes; co-operation with the 
various Provincial Governments for the improve- 
ment of highways and the investigation of the 
possibilities of Air Service for important national 
purposes. 

8. The reduction of public expenditure, the 
avoidance of waste and the encouragement of 
thrift. 

9. Effective measures to prevent excessive 
profits, to prohibit hoarding and to prevent com- 
binations for the increase of prices, and thus 
reduce the cost of living. 

10. The encouragement of co-operation among 
those engaged in agricultural production, with a 
view to diminishing the cost of production and 
marketing so that the price paid to the producer 
may conform more closely to that paid by the 
consumer. 

11. The general development of all the varied 
resources of Canada and their conservation and 
utilization to the best advantage of the people with 
the co-operation and assistance of the State in 
every reasonable way for that purpose. 

12. Adequate consideration of the needs of the 
industrial population, the maintenance of good 
relations between employers and employed, and 
such conditions of employment as will assure suit- 
able standards of living among the labouring 
classes. 

With a view to the development of this policy a truer 
understanding between East and West would be aimed at, 
while to better carry out the proposals, a Portfolio of 
Immigration and Colonization already had been established 
and special Committees of the Cabinet formed. This 
announcement was well received and the press, with a few 
exceptions, praised its theories and hoped for practical 
results. Following this the Government proceeded to clear 
up a number of difficult matters which required settlement 
and in the course of the next month announced: (1) That 



338 CANADA AT WAR 

there would hereafter be no patronage lists in any Depart- 
ment of the Government and that it was proposed to make 
the War Purchasing Commission a general purchasing 
agency for all the Departments; (2) that in future Outside 
Services, to which appointments in the past had been recom- 
mended by members of the Party in power, would be placed 
under the Civil Service Commission; (3) that patronage 
Lists in the Departments under which contracts had 
hitherto been awarded had been destroyed; (4) that such 
undertakings as the St. John Breakwater or Toronto Har- 
bour "Works, which were not thought essential to war-policy 
had been cut out or limited; (5) that a system of control 
in Cold-storage plants by which the margin of profit 
between the producer and consumer should be regulated, 
allowing the plants a profit of 7 per cent, on their invest- 
ments, with a division of further profits through taxes up 
to 11 per cent., the remainder above that figure going to 
the Treasury and no sale to produce more than two cents 
of profit on the dollar, had been put in operation; (6) that 
the price of flour was regulated so that millers could make 
no higher profit than twenty-five cents a barrel and food 
supplies conserved by forbidding the use of grain, etc., in 
the making of Liquor; (7) that the Separation allowance 
of soldier dependents had been increased by five dollars a 
month, or 20 per cent. 

On October 31 Sir Eobert Borden issued an Election 
statement pointing out that men prominent in public life, 
in both political parties, had unselfishly stood aside in 
order that Union might be achieved; that the members of 
the Union Administration had sunk their party diiferences, 
disregarded all minor considerations, and united in an 
earnest effort for a supreme national purpose; that now 
they asked the people of Canada, of whatever party allegi- 
ance, to pursue the same course, to unite in the same spirit 
and thus to aid in the same purpose. He therefore urged 
the people of both parties, in the various ridings, to unite 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 329 

and nominate Union candidates. At the same time the 
Elections were announced for December 17 with nomina- 
tions on November 19 and the Yukon election on January 
28, 1918. On November 12 the Premier issued a Manifesto 
to the people of Canada in which he reviewed the recruit- 
ing, Conscription and general war policy of his late Gov- 
ernment and dealt at length with Government policy along 
the lines above stated. The succeeding elections were 
fought vigourously by the new Unionist organization, des- 
perately by the divided and more or less broken Liberal 
party. Only the personality and prestige of Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier plus Quebec antagonism to Conscription gave it 
a fighting chance. N. W. Eowell, Sir George Foster and 
Sir Wm. Hearst in Ontario, F. B. Carvell in New Bruns- 
wick and the Atlantic Provinces generally, L. J. Tarte 
of La Patrie and Noal Chasse of L'Evenement in the small 
Quebec minority, T. C. Norris and A. B. Hudson in Mani- 
toba, A. L. Sifton in Alberta and J. A. Calder in Saskatche- 
wan were the chief personal elements on the Government 
side of the fighting. All the Provincial Premiers, except 
in Quebec, were claimed as Government supporters. The 
Liberals had no press support outside of Quebec — except 
three journals ; the Unionists had only two newspapers in 
the whole of Quebec. H. H. Dewart, m.l.a., in Ontario and 
Hon. E. Lemieux in Quebec, with support from Sir Lomer 
Gouin and some of his Provincial ministers ; W. R. Mother- 
well, George Langley, G. A. Bell and W. F. A. Turgeon of 
the Martin Government in Saskatchewan ; C. W. Cross and 
J. R. Boyle, W. Gariepy and G. P. Smith of the Alberta 
Government, with Hon. Frank Oliver and the Edmonton 
Bulletin; W. W. B. Mclnnes and F. C. Wade, k.c, with J. H. 
King and J. W. deB. Farris of the Brewster Government 
in British Columbia; supported the Laurier campaign and 
policy. 

The Liberal policy was propounded by Sir W. Laurier 
during a Western tour, in a couple of Quebec speeches, in 
22 



330 CANADA AT WAB 

a letter (August 21) to the Win-the-War League, Toronto, 
and in a manifesto to the Electors. The latter document 
was issued on November 4. He declared that Unionist 
Liberals in the Government had done nothing new or effec- 
tive. The hope of increased Immigration after the War 
was, he asserted, greatly impaired by the War-time Elec- 
tion Act, which had broken faith with naturalized Canadian 
citizens; the C. N. R. arrangement was denounced as pay- 
ing for a stock property which the Government experts had 
declared absolutely without value; the high cost of living 
was said to be due to excessive profits, hoardings and com- 
binations which the Government had not checked; while 
"no measure to reduce the cost could be effective unless 
and until. the tariff is reformed and its pressure removed 
from certain commodities." The War-time Election Act 
was strongly denounced as: "A blot upon every instinct of 
justice, honesty and fair play. It takes away the franchise 
from men whom we invited to this country, to whom we 
promised all the rights and privileges of our citizenship, 
who trusted in our promises and who became, under our 
laws, British subjects and Canadian citizens. They are 
thus humiliated and treated with contempt under the pre- 
tence that being born in enemy countries, in Germany and 
Austria, they might be biased in favour of their native coun- 
try and against their adopted country". As to Conscrip- 
tion he added these words: *'A11 that I asked was that a 
measure of such moment should not be enforced by Parlia- 
ment without an appeal to the people. I supported a Ref- 
erendum for the reason that the Referendum is the most 
advanced and most modem method of consultation of the 
people, without the complications inseparable from a gen- 
eral election. ... A fundamental objection to the 
Government's policy of Conscription is that it conscripts 
human life only, and that it does not attempt to conscript 
wealth, resources or the services of any persons other than 
those who come within the age limit prescribed by the Mill- 



UNION GOVERNMENT AND WAR ELECTIONS 331 

tary Service Act". His future policy was defined as it had 
been in his Win-the-War League letter mentioned above 
which used these words: 

(1) To confer immediately with Great Britain 
and her Allies with a view to ascertaining how, and 
to what extent, our participation can be utilized 
to the greatest advantage in the prosecution of the 
War, regard being had, on the one hand, to the 
necessities of the Allies for men, and, on the other 
hand, to our population, resources, industries, 
geographical and other essential considerations. 

(2) To bring into being a Government com- 
posed, as far as possible, of the ablest men in all 
classes, whose immediate task would be the effec- 
tive and non-partisan organization of the whole 
nation on the lines determined upon. 

(3) To organize a vigourous and compact sys- 
tem of voluntary enlistment, conceived and carried 
out on strictly non-partisan and broadly national 
methods. 

(4) To devise and apply ways and means so 
that the full duty of Canada be generously per- 
formed toward our returned soldiers and their 
dependents; the wealth of Canada compelled to 
contribute its just and proper share of our bur- 
dens; and the mass of the people efficiently safe- 
guarded from the greed of war profiteers. 

The Protestant churches of Canada as a whole helped 
the Union Government and urged the vigourous prosecu- 
tion of the War ; Eoman Catholic churches outside of Que- 
bec were largely neutral so far as their pulpits were con- 
cerned but the hierarchy of the Church was represented 
by such strongly favourable leadership as that of Arch- 
bishop McNeill in Toronto and Bishop Fallon in London; 
in Quebec the Archbishops and Bishops did not intervene 
but many priests and cures supported the Laurier party 
and policy. Labour officially denounced Conscription; 
unofficially and generally it voted for the Government and 
Conscription. The Soldier vote Overseas and their women 
folk at home stood for Unionism and the War as was 



332 CANADA AT WAK 

expected. As the Elections proceeded it became fairly- 
clear that the Government would be sustained. In the coun- 
try, as a whole there was in 1911 a Conservative popular 
majority of 669,594 to 625,103; in 1908, 1904, 1900 and 1896 
there had been a Liberal popular majority averaging 60,000 
in the four Elections; to this popular vote a part of the 
Women now were added. In the late House the members 
totalled 221 ; in the new one they were to be 235. Nomina- 
tions took place on November 19, and 18 acclamations were 
announced; others were chosen later owing to retirement 
of opponents and, by Election day, 29 had been returned 
without opposition, of whom 11 were Government sup- 
porters and 18 in favour of the Opposition — all but three 
of the latter from Quebec. The final result showed a Union- 
ist majority of 71 with details as follows: 

Gov't Opp. Gov't Opp. 

Liberal Cons. Civilian Civilian Soldiers' Soldiers' 

Province Lib. Union Union Vote Vote Vote Vote 

P.E.Island.... 2 2 10,450 12,224 2,775 434 

Nova Scotia ... 4 3 9 40,985 48,831 10,699 1,474 

New Brunswick. 4 4 3 35,871 32,397 9,934 919 

Quebec 62 1 2 61,808 240,504 14,206 2,927 

Ontario 8 12 62 419,928 263,300 95,212 6,793 

Manitoba 1 6 8 83,469 26,073 23,698 1,157 

Saskatchewan ..0 7 9 68,424 30,829 12,996 2,672 

Alberta 1 4 7 60,399 48,865 19,675 1,055 

British Columbia 1 12 59,944 40,050 26,461 2,059 

Yukon 1 666 776 293 32 

82 38 115 841,944 744,849 215,849 18,522 

Following the Elections the Union Government pro- 
ceeded to carry out more of its pledges and to develop other 
elements of policy. The Military Service Act was applied 
and enforced and two-thirds of the suggested 100,000 men 
obtained; a vigourous food production campaign was car- 
ried out and the farmers greatly aided, with 9,000,000 more 
acres under cultivation in 1918 than in 1917; the Canada 
Pood Board for regulation and restriction of food supplies 
was established; munitions were still more largely pro- 
duced and ship-building encouraged with 446,000 tons of 
wooden and steel ships launched from Canadian shipyards 



UNION GOVEENMENT AND WAE ELECTIONS 333 

during 1918; the Business Profits Tax was continued and 
broadened in application, the Income tax increased and 
more closely applied, luxuries such as jewelry and auto- 
mobiles were taxed and the import of non-essential prod- 
ucts prohibited; hundreds of millions were lent to Great 
Britain and the Second Victory Loan brought in subscrip- 
tions of $687,000,000 which went still further to promote 
production and encourage industry; a Soldiers' Land Set- 
tlement Board was established, a Department of Soldiers' 
Civil Re-establishment created, plans for demobilization 
organized, a Repatriation and Employment Committee of 
the Cabinet formed ; financial and corporation profits were 
controlled by legislation and Trade Missions established 
at Washington and London; the Canadian Northern Rail- 
way was acquired and placed under a Government board 
of business men and railway experts for operation ; political 
patronage in the purchase of supplies was abolished, and 
the importation, manufacture and inter-Provincial trade in 
intoxicating spirits was prohibited during the War ; Women 
were enfranchised, while $25,000,000 was set aside for 
Housing purposes; Imperial and International relations 
were developed along new and broader lines with National 
autonomy and Imperial unity conserved and strengthened. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE END— CANADA A BRITISH NATION 

The year 1914 had seen Canada enter the World War as 
one of a number of dependant Dominions, or subsidiary- 
countries in a great British Empire; the year 1919 saw 
Canada a recognized nation in a group of nations still 
called and still acting unitedly as the British Empire. 
Within the Empire its Prime Minister had during 1917 and 
1918 sat as a member of an Imperial War Cabinet and had 
helped Great Britain to guide the greater events of war- 
time action ; its right to share in the negotiations and terms 
of Peace was freely recognized by British leaders as a nat- 
ural consequence of national participation in the War. In 
form its right of separate action and policy was at the 
Peace Conference admitted; in effect it remained one of 
the British Delegation with all the prestige and influence 
which that position involved at a world-gathering where 
Britain was the dominant power and British policy was 
the prevailing force. 

There were certain things which the War and the events 
at its close had clearly proved. The first was that under 
the world-conditions of this time small nations, weak coun- 
tries, had and have no real chance of power, influence, or 
prestige. In war they were subject to all the varied exi- 
gencies of the conflict and to the military, naval, or trade 
needs of the great Powers ; in peace they were at the mercy 
of greater national forces in negotiation, terms, arrange- 
ments, trade, tariff, shipping and other details. The second 
obvious point was that countries like Canada and Australia 
or South Africa, which were in themselves little nations just 
as Holland or Serbia, Norway or Greece were little nations, 
had as autonomous parts of a great Empire a power and 

[334] 



THE END — CANADA A BEITISH NATION 335 

prestige far beyond those of so-called independent 
nationalities. In war they possessed a vastly greater 
security; in peace they were a potent force at the Confer- 
ence table and had a real place in the attempted re-creation 
of the world. A third was the removal of one great bar to 
closer union amongst British nations by the evident fact 
that nations, little and big, could sit together at Versailles 
and deal with questions of government, finance, trade, 
peace and war, treaty-making and sovereign powers, and 
could make all kinds of international pacts and agreements 
without any nation losing its autonomy or bartering its 
independence — whatever the degrees of influence which 
might exist. 

If the Supreme War Council of the Allies could sit at 
Paris for a year and direct the strategy and war-policy 
of French, British, Belgian, Serbian, Italian, Greek, and 
Indian armies without affecting national rights; if Mar- 
shal Foch could control and guide the fighting action of 
vast armies of allied peoples without touching the tender 
national susceptibilities and powers of the great countries 
concerned; if representatives of Canada, Australia and 
South Africa could, in conference with the great Powers 
of the world, finally restrict their territorial claims to man- 
datory rights under international control without affecting 
their status as British nations ; it became clear that consul- 
tative agreements, administrative or executive action 
within the great but still lesser sphere of the British 
Empire could be evolved and carried on, if desired by the 
peoples concerned, mthout injuring autonomous rights or 
necessarily involving centralization of government. If 
Canada could place 150,000 troops in France at one time 
under the absolute control of the British War Office and 
send its hospitals from Boulogne to Salonika under British 
Army control without affecting the autonomy of the 
Dominion; if Canadian aud Australian Ministers could sit 
side by side as British representatives in International 



336 CANADA AT WAR 

Councils in Paris, or the Premiers of Canada, Australia 
and New Zealand sit at the Council board of the British 
Cabinet, or Dominion Ministers sit in a new Imperial War 
Cabinet at London, or the Australian Premier be sworn in 
a member of the Canadian Privy Council, without injuring 
British constitutional autonomy and Colonial self-govern- 
ment; if all these and many other incidents could occur 
during a few years of war and peace, surely there was no 
fundamental reason for the lover of autonomy to fear closer 
Imperial unity after the War or to deem a concentrated 
policy of co-ordinated self-defence in trade, finance and 
military or naval matters, either impossible or necessarily 
undesirable ! 

In the constitutional development of this period Canada 
and Sir Robert Borden helped to lead the way as Canada 
and its soldiers did in certain great battles of the War. Of 
the Imperial War Cabinet much might be said. The first 
explanation of its scope, nature and objects was given by 
Mr. Lloyd George in an interview on January 25, 1917, as 
follows: **It will deal with aU general questions affecting 
the War. The Prime Ministers or their representatives 
will be temporary members of the War Cabinet, and we 
propose to arrange that all matters of first-rate importance 
should be considered at a series of special meetings. 
Nothing affecting the Dominions, the conduct of the War, 
or negotiations for peace will be excluded from its purview. 
There will, of course, be domestic questions which each 
part of the Empire must settle for itself — questions such 
as recruiting or home legislation. All the different prob- 
lems connected with making peace, as was stated in the 
Government's invitation, will the threshed out; the War 
policy of the Empire will be clearly defined, and of great 
importance is what I may call the preparation for peace. 
You do not suppose that the overseas nations can raise 
and place in the field armies containing an enormous pro- 
portion of their best manhood and not want to have a say. 



THE END — CANADA A BRITISH NATION 337 

and a real say, in determining the use to which they are to 
be put? That seems to us an impossible and undemocratic 
proposition. ' ' 

At the Imperial War Cabinet meetings of 1917 which 
totalled 14 in number and followed the opening date of 
March 20 all the Dominions were represented except Aus- 
tralia, which was politically tied up at the moment; India 
also had its place, and the Imperial Premier announced on 
May 17 that the sessions were to be continued once a year 
or oftener and described this decision of its members as ''a 
landmark in the constitutional history of the British 
Empire." Sir Robert Borden in a London speech on 
April 2 used similar language: ''The Imperial War Cabi- 
net as constituted to-day has been summoned for definite 
and specific purposes, publicly stated, which involve ques- 
tions of the most vital concern to the whole Empire. With 
the constitution of that Cabinet a new era has dawned and 
a new page of history has been written. It is not for me 
to prophesy as to the future significance of these pregnant 
events; but those who have given thought and energy to 
every effort for full Constitutional development of the 
Overseas nations may be pardoned for believing that they 
discern therein the birth of a new and greater Imperial 
Commonwealth." In the Canadian Commons on May 18 he 
used these words: 

This practice and the ideal back of it so 
impressed itself upon the people of the United 
Kingdom, and upon their statesmen, that at the 
very last meeting of the Imperial War Cabinet a . 
definite offer was made to the Overseas Dominions 
that this experiment should be continued in the 
future ; that it should develop into a usage and into 
a convention; and that annually at least, and, if 
necessity should arise, oftener, there should assem- 
ble in London an Imperial Cabinet to deal with 
matters of common concern to the Empire . . . 
The future of this proposal will be a Cabinet of 
Governments rather than of Ministers. ^ Having 
regard to the declarations of the Prime Minister of 



338 CANADA AT WAR 

the United Kingdom and his colleagues, the pro- 
posal will carry with it much of advantage to the 
Overseas Dominions. I say that for this reason: 
It is not proposed that the Government of the 
United Kingdom shall, in foreign affairs, act first 
and consult afterwards. The principle has been 
definitely and finally laid down that in these mat- 
ters the Dominions shall be consulted before the 
Empire is committed to any policy which might 
involve the issues of peace or war. 

In 1918 the second Session of the Imperial War Cabinet 
was held at Downing Street beginning June 11 with the 
British Prime Minister presiding. Great Britain was also 
represented by Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Curzon, Mr. Austen 
Chamberlain, Mr. G. N. Barnes ; South Africa by General 
J. C. Smuts and Sir Henry Burton ; Canada by Sir Eobert 
Borden, Hon. Arthur Meighen, Hon. J. A. Calder, Hon. 
N. W. Eowell and Sir A. E. Kemp; New Zealand by the 
Et. Hon. W. N. Massey and Sir J. G. Ward ; Newfoundland 
by the Et. Hon. Wm. F. Lloyd. The representatives of 
Australia and India had not arrived but, as eventually in 
attendance, they comprised the Et. Hon. W. M. Hughes, 
Premier, and Sir Joseph Cook for Australia and Sir Sat- 
yendra P. Sinha and H. H. the Maharajah of Patiala, 
G.C.I.E., G.B.E., for India. It was more representative than 
the preceding meeting of 1917 and its first business was 
an assurance of Empire loyalty to H. M. the King, who 
replied as follows: "The Conference has met in circum- 
stances of unparalleled gravity and is a proof and mani- 
festation of the unity of the Empire in its determination 
to uphold the common rights and liberties of mankind. The 
King will follow its deliberations with keen interest, and 
he trusts that these deliberations may lead to an ever closer 
association of all parts of his Empire in their resolve to 
defeat the common enemy and to build up an Empire more 
free, more united, more strong for the future." These 
words described the objects in a general sense of the 
Imperial War Cabinet ; its spirit and constitution were well 



THE END — CANADA A BRITISH NATION 339 

defined by Sir Robert Borden in an address on June 21. 
He said: ''We meet on terms of perfect equality. If I 
might describe it I should say it is a Cabinet of Govern- 
ments represented by Ministers responsible to their own 
Governments, the conclusions of the Cabinet to be carried 
out by the parliaments of the Empire. Each nation retains 
its perfect autonomy, and I venture to express the hope, as 
I did last year, that there will be found in it the germ of a 
constitutional development which will form the basis of its 
unity in years to come." Mr. Premier Hughes of Aus- 
tralia on the same occasion defined this new policy as 
changing the Empire into ''a Commonwealth of nations 
marching to a still more glorious destiny." 

Meanwhile, as in 1917, the meetings of the Imperial Con- 
ference were being held concurrently, or every other day, 
and varied resolutions were discussed and passed. The 
members of the Imperial War Cabinet were not necessarily 
members of the Conference; practically they were so, and 
with them were other Canadian Ministers such as Hon. 
C. C. Ballantyne, Minister of Marine, and Maj.-Gen. S. C. 
Mewburn, Minister of Militia. The 1917 Conference had 
passed important resolutions, of which one suggested the 
postponement of any re-arrangement of Empire constitu- 
tional relations until after the War and the calling of a 
special Conference to that end while defining the Dominions 
as "autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth" 
and recognizing India as entitled to full and equitable rep- 
resentation in the Government of the Empire. In 1918 
demobilization problems were largely dealt with, the devel- 
opment of petroleum supplies within the Empire urged, 
the restriction for a period of enemy naturalization and 
rights throughout the Empire approved, reciprocity in 
emigration and citizen rights with India suggested, an 
Imperial Court of Appeal approved. As to these proceed- 
ings the Canadian Premier, speaking on July 30, stated 
that : ' ' One class of resolutions dealt definitely with mat- 



340 CANADA AT WAR 

ters of great moment. Another class commended to the 
attention of the various Governments questions requiring 
fuller consideration, as well as the executive and Parlia- 
mentary action of each. The third class comprised resolu- 
tions which set up standing Committees representing the 
United Kingdom and the Dominions for the purpose of 
investigating and reporting to the Governments concerned. 
This last class included demobilization, regulation of ocean 
freight rates, and control of the raw materials of the 
Empire.'' On July 26 the King received the Delegates and 
in his farewell speech spoke of the war crisis and added: 
"The efforts that you have put forth, ever increasing as 
the danger grows greater, are a source of pride and com- 
fort to me, as they are of wonder to the whole world. The 
Empire is founded on a rock of unity, which no storms can 
shake or overthrow." Meantime the proceedings of the 
Imperial "War Cabinet had of course been private, but on 
July 26 a cabled review by F. A. MacKenzie, a capable and 
reliable correspondent, summarized its proceedings as 
follows : 

While the proceedings of the War Cabinet were 
secret, we know from Mr. Lloyd George's public 
statement that the Dominion representatives 
helped to discuss and consider our peace terms, 
settling the main principles. It is common knowl- 
edge that the Dominion Premiers helped to recon- 
sider and resettle the entire foundation of the 
military principles of our campaigns in close 
consultation with leading representatives of our 
Allies. They established, reshaped, rebuilt unit- 
edly the foundations upon which the Allied conduct 
of the war will be waged. 

Their presence has been regarded by the British 
Cabinet with appreciation and gratitude. Mr. 
Lloyd George has repeatedly given expression to 
this feeling. They have strengthened his hands 
and brought fresh points of view. They have 
acted not alone as mere listeners, but as active, 
responsible colleagues, discussing, debating and 
arriving at a verdict of common minds. They have 



THE END — CANADA A BEITISH NATION 341 

evidently arrived at completely harmonious deci- 
sions. They virtually established recognition of 
the principle that Dominions sharing the common 
burden shall share the common direction of the 
Empire's war policy. 

Mr. Lloyd George and Sir Kobert Borden and most of 
the other Delegates looked to a continuance of the Imperial 
Cabinet idea; as to its functions Sir Robert on July 30 
pointed out that they dealt with matters of ** common 
Imperial concern," while the British War Cabinet dealt 
with war matters local to the United Kingdom. The new 
system was believed to combine securely the two great 
essentials of Dominion or National autonomy with Imperial 
unity and security. Following on these constitutional 
developments came the announcement on August 20 that 
an important change had been arranged in the channels of 
communication between Ottawa and London. Except in 
matters of discipline and military operations Canada was 
then in complete control of her forces Overseas; she had 
for half a century been in control of her own home affairs 
and policies ; she was growing into a full and free participa- 
tion in the government and policy of the Empire; a new 
step was now taken and formulated in the terms of an 
Imperial War Cabinet resolution, approved on July 30, as 
follows : 

1. The Prime Ministers of the Dominions, as 
members of the Imperial War Cabinet, have the 
right of direct communication with the Prime Min- 
ister of the United Kingdom, and vice versa. Such 
communications should be confined to questions 
of Cabinet importance. The Prime Ministers 
themselves are the judges of such questions. 
Telegraphic communications between the Prime 
Ministers, should, as a rule, be conducted through 
the Colonial Office machinery, but this will not 
exclude the adoption of more direct means of com- 

• munication in exceptional circumstances. 

2. In order to secure continuity in the work of 
the Imperial War Cabinet and a permanent means 
of consultation during the war on the more impor- 



342 CANADA AT WAR 

tant questions of common interest, the Prime 
Minister of each Dominion has the right to nomi- 
nate a Cabinet Minister, either as a resident or 
visitor in London, to represent him at meetings of 
the Imperial War Cabinet to be held regularly 
between the plenary sessions. 

While all these conditions were evolving others of an 
international nature were in the constitutional melting pot. 
To the outside world the British Empire had up to the out- 
break of the great War been a unit with Great Britain as 
the dominant and dominating factor; as the War pro- 
gressed the British Dominions and India were found to 
have all the military strength, the virility and ambition of 
powerful young nations ; as Peace possibilities came up for 
discussion it was found that Great Britain was anxious to 
have their war-action fully recognized in the pending nego- 
tiations and to give them a place — anomalous perhaps, but 
practical and influential — in the Conferences and Councils 
of the Powers. At the seventh Session of the Supreme 
Allied Council in Paris (July 5, 1918), when all the aspects 
of the military situation were considered and important 
decisions were reached, one of the striking features of the 
occasion was the presence of the Prime Ministers of Can- 
ada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as several other 
Ministers from British Dominions. On behalf of the Coun- 
cil the Premiers of France and Italy expressed to these 
representatives of the British Empire the thanks of the 
Allies for services rendered on the battlefield by the troops 
of the British Colonies. At the first great Allied Confer- 
ence of 1917 as to after-war fiscal and trade problems 
Canada had been represented by Sir G. E. Foster as one 
of the United Kingdom delegates ; in the Peace Conferences 
of 1918-19 he and the other Colonial delegates desired to 
be direct representatives of the Dominions and yet to for- 
mally represent the whole Empire through Great Britain. 
Just how this was to be done was a problem, but by the 
aid and support of the United Kingdom statesmen it was 



THE END — CANADA A BKITISH NATION 343 

worked out to the satisfaction of the British and Dominion 
Governments ; perhaps not wholly to that of other nations 
who saw the British Empire delegation in all the Confer- 
ences greatly strengthened in voice and influence. Mr. 
Lloyd George put the whole matter as follows in a speech 
to Canadian Editors visiting in London on July 15: 

This is a war in which we engaged the Empire, 
at a moment when we had no time to consult the 
Dominions as to policy and it is perfectly true that 
the policy which we adopted to protect small 
nations in Europe was a policy embarked upon 
without consultation with the Dominions. But you 
approved it. Henceforth you have the right to be 
consulted as to the policy beforehand, and this is 
the change which has been effected as a result of 
the war ; for that reason an Imperial War Cabinet 
is a reality. Another point in which you have a 
voice in is the settlement of the conditions of 
peace. We have discussed war aims and the con- 
ditions under which we are prepared to make peace 
at the War Cabinet. We arrived at an agreement 
on the subject last year with the representatives of 
the Dominions and we shall reconsider the same 
problems in the light of events which have 
occurred since. Canada and Australia and New 
Zealand, yes, and Newfoundland, they have all 
contributed their share of sacrifice, and they are 
entitled to an equal voice with the representatives 
of these Islands — to determine the conditions 
under which we are prepared to make peace. 

Following this period the Canadian Premier returned 
home for a brief space, but in November was again at Lon- 
don as a member of the Imperial Cabinet and an expected 
member of the coming Peace Conferences. He was accom- 
panied by Sir G. E. Foster, Hon. A. L. Sifton and Hon. 
C. J. Doherty with Mr. Lloyd Harris as Chairman of a 
Trade Commission and other specialists in attendance. At 
the same time it was officially announced that during cer- 
tain imperative and hastily convened meetings at Ver- 
sailles and Paris nothing had been done by British Minis- 



344 CANADA AT WAR 

ters contrary to the agreements and decisions previously 
come to in the Imperial War Cabinet and that the Imperial 
Government had every intention of associating the Govern- 
ments of the Dominions and India with, itself at every stage 
in the future discussion of terms of Peace. The real dif- 
ficulty developed after the statesmen from the Dominions 
had assembled in London and the arrangements for a meet- 
ing of the nations began to be considered. Each of the 
great Powers — Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the 
United States — were to be equally and equitably repre- 
sented in the Conference by five delegates ; how each of the 
British Dominions could come into the British delegation 
was an obvious problem. The United Kingdom with its 
large interests and immense contribution to the War had 
to be adequately represented; men like Lloyd George and 
Balfour and Curzon and Milner ought to be present, while 
Labour and different British parties demanded representa- 
tion ; how therefore could Borden and Hughes, Massey and 
Botha and Lloyd and delegates from India be included? 
Yet the Dominions -asked for and could hardly be denied the 
rights accorded to all the small nations who had been Allies 
in the War. Had Gr6at Britain and the Empire not been 
so strong in resources and great in war-power the Domin- 
ions would have lost out ; as it was an effective compromise 
was ultimately arranged. Meantime the Imperial War 
Cabinet had again been meeting from time to time in its 
Third session and the Canadian mission had been busy 
studying and working out various phases of Peace negotia- 
tion and demobilization and after-war problems. On July 
19, at a meeting of the Imperial Cabinet, the Dominions 
were represented by the Prime Ministers of Canada, Aus- 
tralia, South Africa and Newfoundland ; representatives of 
India also were in attendance. 

Upon the proposal of Sir Eobert Borden it was decided 
that the Imperial War Cabinet and the sub-committees 
charged with propositions for the Peace Conference, should 



THE END — CANADA A BRITISH NATION 345 

hold practically continuous sessions in order that by the 
time conversations with President Wilson opened, the atti- 
tude of the British representatives upon the large questions 
to be discussed at Versailles should be substantially 
defined. One of the chief committees of the Cabinet — 
including Sir Robert Borden and Mr. Doherty from Canada 
and Lord Robert Cecil, as chairman — was that dealing 
with the League of Nations proposal and, it may be added, 
more actual work was done in the practical construction of 
a policy along these lines at London, than in any other 
capital — even that of the United States. The Foreign 
Office for months had experts working upon the problem 
and the result of their labours was put in the hands of this 
Committee. The Canadian Premier's views were expressed 
in a speech to the American Society in London on Novem- 
ber 28: *'Let us have a League of Nations if it can be 
realized, but at least let us have understanding and unity 
of purpose and action between the two world-wide, English- 
speaking commonwealths which can save humanity in years 
to come from the unbearable horror, suffering and sacrifice 
of wars such as this. United by ties of race, language, 
literature and tradition, the nations of the Britannic Com- 
monwealth and the United States can command the peace 
of the world." Sir Robert was more inclined to favour a 
British League of Nations plus the United States than the 
scheme generally associated with President Wilson's name, 
but he also understood the complexity and importance of 
the issue as presented at the Peace Conference, and on 
December 31 issued a message to the people of Canada in 
which he said : 

The approaching Peace Conference must in the 
first place address itself to the establishment of a 
new world-order of peace. That proposal is con- 
fronted by difficulties and complexities which it is 
almost impossible to over-estimate. So to control 
the material and territorial ambitions and jealou- 
sies of nations that their power and influence shall 
23 



346 CANADA AT WAE 

be held in trust for the common purpose of main- 
taining the world's peace, and of punishing law- 
lessness or aggression by any recalcitrant State, is 
a task of almost incredible difficulty. Yet the sac- 
rifice, the suffering and the sorrow through which 
humanity has passed imperatively demand that 
this nobler victory shall be won. Attendant upon 
the task are a score of questions not easy of solu- 
tion, and involving economic, financial and terri- 
torial considerations each of sufficient magnitude 
and intricacy to engage the full attention of the ? 
approaching Council of Nations. 

Meantime the World War in its direct phases had prac- 
tically ended with the Armistice of November 11, the 
ensuing occupation of German territory along the Rhine, 
the surrender of German battleships and submarines, the 
abdication of the Emperor Wilhelm, the overthrow of all 
existing German-Austrian governments and kingdoms, 
the establishment of many so-called republics. The Inter- 
Allied Peace Conference of 1919, held at Paris and Ver- 
sailles for the purpose of preparing and promulgating 
terms of peace to Germany and its Allies and of advancing 
policies as to small or new nations which should safeguard 
conditions and promote settlement of the almost insoluble 
problems of the day, was opened on January 18 with M. 
Clemenceau in the chair and representatives present from 
all over the world. The five great Powers had done much 
preparatory work. The British Empire delegation com- 
prised Messrs. D. Lloyd George, A. J. Balfour, A. Bonar 
Law and G. S. Barnes for the United Kingdom; Sir R. 
Borden, Sir G. E. Foster and Hon. C. J. Doherty for 
Canada; Rt. Hon. W. M. Hughes and Sir Joseph Cook for 
Australia; Generals Botha and Smuts for South Africa; 
Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey and Sir J. G. Ward for New Zea- 
land ; Sir W. F. Lloyd for Newfoundland and Rt. Hon. E. S. 
Montagu, the Maharajah of Bikaner and Sir S. P. Sinha 
for India. The arrangement agreed upon finally was that 
while the United Kingdom or British Empire could only 



THE END — CANADA A BKITISH NATION 347 

have a membership strength of five, and one vote, like each 
of the other Powers, large or small, yet the Empire dele- 
gates, as distinct from those of the United Kingdom, would 
sit and debate in the Conference and take part in its work 
or that of its Committees when appointed to do so as did 
those of other small nations. 

Canada, Australia, South Africa and India were entitled 
to two delegates, New Zealand and Newfoundland to one. 
Great Britain was entitled to five delegates, as was each of 
the other Great Powers. British Ministers, however, only 
took four out of the five seats allowed them and allowed 
the fifth to a representative of the Dominions; it being 
taken in the discussions between the Great Powers by 
whichever Dominion was specially interested in the sub- 
ject under discussion. The Secretariat of the British 
Empire delegation also included a representative of each 
Dominion. On the Committees the external Empire was 
suitably represented — the League of Nations had General 
Smuts; Separation for Damages had W. M. Hughes as 
Vice-Chairman ; the Mission to Adjust Polish Affairs had 
General Botha; the Mission to deal with Russian condi- 
tions had Sir Eobert Borden; the Committee on Interna- 
tional Ports, Waterways and Railways had Hon. A. L. 
Sifton as Vice-Chairman, etc. Of the tremendous questions 
dealt with by the Conference little can be said here. 
Canada, through its Prime Minister, took special interest 
in the League of Nations' project; Australia and New Zea- 
land in the German Pacific Colonies and the mandatory 
policy of the Conference; South Africa in the League of 
Nations and the former African colonies of Germany. 
Out of all the complexities and controversies and responsi- 
bilities Canada emerged with a more definite reputation as 
a great country and people in the British Empire ; its status 
as a nation within and without the Empire, at one and the 
same time, was not, however, calculated to clarify the 
already confused European view of British institutions in 



348 CANADA AT WAR 

their curiously free and yet binding Empire relationship. 
This and other developments of the period were anticipated 
and met in a speech by the Hon. N. W. Kowell, President of 
the Canadian Privy Council at Orono on August 23, 1918. 
He was dealing with matters already dealt with in these 
pages and anticipated the conditions which have just been 
referred to : 

The British Empire or Commonwealth is no longer 
a great Power with world-wide colonial posses- 
sions, or even a great central Power surrounded 
by self-governing Dominions. It is vastly greater 
than either — it is a coalition of free, self-govern- 
ing nations, all of equal status, all owning allegi- 
ance to a common Sovereign and bound together 
by common ideals and purposes ; and the Imperial 
War Cabinet is a development to meet the needs 
of this Commonwealth. The decisions just an- 
nounced in reference to the constitution and work 
of the Imperial War Cabinet, mark the beginning 
of a new epoch in our Empire 's history ; they mark 
the full recognition of the national status of the 
Dominions, and the closer co-operation of the 
Dominions and the Mother-Country in all matters 
relating to the prosecution of war and terms of 
peace. 



1 



MEMBEKS OF THE C. E. F. WHO WON THE VICTOKIA 
CEOSS IN THE WOELD WAE 

Lieut. Wallace Lloyd Algie, OflBcera' Draft. ( James Algie, father, 57 McPher- 

son avenue, Toronto, Ont.) Born, Alton, Ont.; enlisted, Toronto, Ont., 

April 19, 1916. 
Cpl. Colin Barr, 3rd (Form 35th) Battalion. (Joseph Barr, father, Mill- 

of-Boynde, Banff, Scotland.) Born, Banffshire, Scotland ; enlisted, Toronto, 

Ont., April 5, 1915. 
Lt.-Col. William Avery Bishop, K. F. C. (Form 7th, C. M. R.) . ( W. A. Bishop, 

E. N. S., Box 1015, Owen Sound, Ont.) Bom, Owen Sound, Ont.; enlisted, 

London, Ont., March 30, 1915. 
Cpl. Alexander Brereton, 144th Battalion. (Claude P. Brereton, father, 

Strathclair, Man.) Born, Oak Eiver, Man.; enlisted, Winnipeg, Man., 

January 31, 1916. 
Lieut. John Brillant, 189th Battalion. (Joseph Brillant, father, Bic, Rimouski 

Co., P. Q.) Bom Assametquaghan. P. Q.; enlisted, Valcartier Camp, 

September 20, 1916. 
Pte. Harry Brown, C. M. R., Depot Regiment (6 R. D.) . (Mrs. Helen McAuliffe, 

mother, Omemee P. O., Ont.) Born, Gananooue, Ont.: enlisted, London, 

Ont., August 18, 1916. 
Sgt. Hugh Cairns, 65th Battalion. (George H. Cairns, father, 832 Avenue G, 

North Saskatoon, Sask.) Born, Newcastle, England; enlisted. Saskatoon, 

Sask., August 2, 1915. 
Capt. Frederick Wm. Campbell, 1st Battalion. (Mrs. Margaret Campbell, 

wife. Mount Forest, Ont.) Bom, not stated; enlisted, not stated; date, 

not stated. 
Cpl. Leo Clarke, 27th Battalion. (H. T. Clarke, R. N. S., 785 Pine street, 

Winnipeg, Man.) Born, Hamilton, Ont.; enlisted, Winnipeg, Man., Febru- 
ary 25, 1915. 
Lt.-Col. William H. Clark-Kennedy, 13th Battalion. (Mrs. Kate F. Clarke- 
Kennedy, wife, care Bank of Montreal, London, England.) Born, Ayrshire, 

Scotland; enlisted, Valcartier, P. Q., September 23, 1914. 
Lieut. Robert Grierson Combe, 53rd Battalion. (Jean Donald Combe, wife, 

1 Hazel Grove, Yelberton, Devon, England.) Born, Aberdeen, Scotland; 

enlisted, Sewell, July 16, 1915. 
Cpl. Frederick Geo. Coppins, 1st Division Cavalry. (Mrs. W. Fox, R. N. S., 52 

Warfield road, Crofton Park, Brockley, London, England.) Born, London, 

England; enlisted, Valcartier, P. Q., September 23, 1914. 
Pte. John Bernard Croak, 55th Battalion. (James Croak, father. Glace Bay, 

C. B., K S.) Born, Glace Bay, C. B., N". S.; enlisted, Sussex, N. B., 

August 7, 1915. 
Pte. (Lt.) Thomas Dinesen, Quebec Regiment. (Mrs. Inglehorg Dinesen, 

mother, Ringsted, Denmark.) Born, Denmark; enlisted, Montreal, P. Q., 

June 26, 1917. 

[349] 



350 CANADA AT WAR 

L. Cpl. F. Fisher, 13th Battalion. ( W. H. Fisher, R. N. S., 376 Lanadown ave- 
nue, Westmount, Ont.) Bom, St. Catharines, Ont.; enlisted, Valcartier, 
September 23, 1914. 

Lieut. Gordon M. Flowerdew, L. S. H. (Mrs. Flowerdew, mother, Bilingford, 
Norfolk, England.) Born, Bilingford, England; enlisted, Valcartier, 
September 23, 1914. 

Cpl. Herman James Good, Quebec Regiment. (Walter Good, father, S. Bat- 
hurst, Gloc Co., N. B.) Born, Bathurst, N, B.; enlisted, Sussex, N. B., 
June 29, 1915. 

Lieut. Milton Fowler Gregg, R. C. R., N. S. R. (Geo. L. Gregg, R. N. S., Moun- 
tain Dale, Kings Co., N. S. ) Born, N. B. ; enlisted, Halifax, N. S., Novem- 
ber 5, 1914. 

Col. Sgt. Frederick William Hall, 8th Battalion. (Mrs. M. Hall, R. N. S., 30 
Hargrave street, Winnipeg, Man.) Born, Kilkenny, Ireland; enlisted, 
Valcartier, September 26, 1914. 

C. S. M. (T. Lt.) Robert Hanna, 29th Battalion. (Mrs. Sarah Hanna, mother, 
Aughnahoory, Coimty Down, Ireland.) Born, Kilkell, Ireland; enlisted, 
Vancouver, B. C, November 9, 1914. 

Lieut. Fred Maurice W. Harvey, 13th Battalion. (Mrs. Winifred Lelia Harvey, 
wife, 5 Leeson Park, Dublin, Ireland.) Born, Athboy, Ireland; enlisted, 
McLeod, Alta., February 8, 1915. 

Sgt. Frederick Hobson, 20th Battalion. (Louise Hobson, R. N. S., 1381 Lans- 
down avenue, Toronto, Ont.) Born, London, England; enlisted, Toronto, 
Ont., November 10, 1914. 

Pte. Thomas Wm. Holmes, 147th Battalion. (Mrs. E. M. Holmes, mother, 
380 9th street, Owen Sound, Ont. ) Born, Montreal, P. Q. ; enlisted, Owen 
Sound, Ont., December 20, 1918. 

Lieut. Samuel Lewis Honey, 78th Battalion. (Geo. E. Honey, father, R. R. 
No. 2, St. Catharines, Ont.) Born, Conn, Ont.; enlisted, Walkerton, Ont., 
January 22, 1915. 

Capt. Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson, C. A. M. C. (Bellenden Huteheson, 
father. Mound City, lU., U. S. A.) Born, Mt. Carmel, U. S. A.; enlisted, 
Toronto, Ont., December 14, 1915. 

Cpl. Joseph Kaeble, 189th Battalion. (Mrs. Joseph Kaeble, mother, Sayabec, 
P. Q.) Born, St. Moice, P. Q.; enlisted, Sayabec, P. Q., March 20, 1916. 

Pte. (Lieut.) George Eraser Kerr, 3rd Battalion. (John J. Kerr, R. N. S., 135 
Tyndall avenue, Toronto, Ont.) Born, Desoronto, Ont.; enlisted, Valcar- 
tier, P. Q., September 9, 1914. 

Pte. John Chipman Kerr, 66th Battalion. (Mrs. J. C. Kerr, wife, 42 Seeton 
street, Hampstead Road, London, England.) Born, Fox River, N. S.; 
enlisted, Edmonton, September 25, 1915. 

Pte. Cecil John Kinross, 51st Battalion. (James Sterling Kinross, R. N. S., 
Lougheed, Alta.) Born, Oxbridge, Middlesex, England; enlisted, Cal- 
gary, October 21, 1915. 

Sgt. Arthur Geo. Knight, 10th Battalion. (Edward Henry Knight, R. N. S. 
Mead Vale Road, Red Hill, England.) Born, Mead Vale Road, Red Hill, 
England; enlisted, Regina, December 19, 1915. 

Cpl. Filip Konowal, 77th Battalion. (Mrs. Filip Konowal, wife, Russia.) 
Born, Kedeski, Russia; enlisted, Ottawa, July 12, 1915. 



WINNEKS OF THE VICTOEIA CKOSS 351 

Capt. Okill Massey Learmonth, 2nd Battalion. (Martha Learmonth, R. N". S., 

43 Murray avenue, Quebec, P. Q.) Born, Quebec, P. Q.; enlisted, Quebec, 

P. Q., September 29, 1914. 
Lieut. Graham Thomson Lyall, 102nd Battalion, (Rev. R. H. Lyall, father, 

Darween, Lancashire, England.) Born, Manchester, England; enlisted, 

St. Catharines, Ont., September 24, 1915. 
Capt. Thain Wendell McDowell, 38th Battalion. (Mrs. J. F. Richardson, 

mother, Maitland, Ont.) Born Lachute, P. Q.; enlisted, Ottawa, Ont., 

February 1, 1915. 
Capt. John MacGregor, 11th C. M. R. (Mrs. W. MacGregor, mother, Newlands, 

Urchange, Cawdor, Nairn, Scotland.) Born, Nairn, Scotland; enlisted, 

Vancouver, B. C, March 29, 1915. 
Lieut. George Burdon McKean, 51st Battalion. (J. W. N. McKean, R. N. S., 

Box 553, Lethbridge, Alta.) Born, Bishop, Auckland, England; enlisted, 

Edmonton, Alta., January 23, 1915. 
Lieut. Hugh McKenzie, P. P. C. L. I. (Mrs. H. McKenzie, R. N. S., 163 Beau- 

doin street, St. Henri, P. Q.) Born, Inverness, Scotland; enlisted, Ottawa, 

Ont., August 21, 1914. 
Sgt. William Merrifield, 2nd Battalion. (William Merrifield, father, Aylmer 

Road, Hull, P. Q.) Born, Brentwood, Essex, England; enlisted, Valcar- 

tier, P. Q., August 23, 1914. 
Pte. William Henry Metcalf, 12th Battalion. (Mrs. Thurso Rice, R. N, S., 

Dennyville, Maine, U. S. A.) Born, Waite, Wash., U. S. A.; enlisted, 

Valcartier, P. Q., September 23, 1914. 
Pte. William Johnstone Milne, 46th Battalion. (David Milne, father, 10 

Anderson street, Cambusnethan, Scotland.) Born, Cambusnethan, Scot- 
land; enlisted, Moose Jaw, Sask., September 11, 1915. 
Cpl. Harry Garnet Bedford Miner, 142nd Battalion. (John Miner, father, 

1021^ Harvey street, Chatham, Ont.) Born, Cedar Springs, Ont.; enlisted, 

London, Ont., December 1, 1915. 
Sgt. George Harry Mullin, 28th Battalion. (Mrs. Effie Mullin, R. N. S., 710 

Kings Road, Victoria, B. C.) Born, U. S. A.; enlisted, Winnipeg, Man., 

December 14, 1914. 
Pte. Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, 38th Battalion. (Mrs. D. J. McDonald, 

R. N. S., North Lancaster, Ont.) Born, Dublin, Ireland; enlisted, Ottawa, 

Ont., May 1, 1915. 
Capt. Patrick John O'Kelly, 144th Battalion. (Mrs. Cecilia O'Kelly, mother. 

Suite 2, Chelsea Court, Winnipeg, Man.) Born, Winnipeg, Man.; enlisted, 

Winnipeg, Man., February 26, 1916. 
Pte. Michael James O'Rourke, 47th Battalion. (Mrs. K. Mack, sister, 2564 

Breway street, Montreal, P. Q.) Born, Limerick, Ireland; enlisted. New 

Westminster, B. C, March 23, 1915. 
Pte. John George Pattison, 137th Battalion. (Mrs. Sophia Louise Pattison, 

wife, 1622 First avenue, Westmount, Calgary, Alta.) Born, Woolwich, 

Kent, England; enlisted, Calgary, Alta., March 6, 1916. 
Major George Randolph Pearkes, 2nd C. M. R. (Mrs. L. Pearkes, mother. 

Mount Tomlie, B. C.) Born, Watford, England; enlisted, Victoria, B. C, 

March 2, 1915. 
Lt.-Col. Cyrus Wesley Peck, 30th Battalion. (Mrs. K. E. Peck, E. N. D., 

Suite 11, Royal Mansions, 1183 Pacific avenue, Vancouver, B. C.) Bo5n, 

Hopewell Hill, N. B. ; enlisted, Victoria, B. C, November 8, 1914. 



35^ CANADA AT WAR 

Pte. Walter Leigh Rayfield, 7th Battalion, B. C. K. (W. L. Eayfield, Jr., son, 
care Mrs. John Stretting, Redmond, Wash., U. S. A.) Born, Eichmond, 
England; enlisted, Victoria, B. C, July 10, 1917. 

Pte. James Richardson, Man. Raiment. (David Richardson, R. N. S., Chief 
of Police, Chilliwack, B. C.) Bom, Bella Hills, Scotland; enlisted, Val- 
cartier, P. Q., September 23, 1914. 

Pte. James Peter Robertson, 13th C M. R. (Mrs. Janet Robertson, mother, 
656 5th street, S. E., Medicine Hat, Alta.) Born, Picton, N. S.j enlisted, 
McLeod, Alta., Jime 14, 1915. 

Lieut. Charles Smith Rutherford, Quebec Regiment. (Mrs. Isabella Ruther- 
ford, mother, Colborne, Ont.) Bom, Colborne, Ont.j enlisted, Toronto, 
Ont., March 2, 1916. 

Capt. Francis Alexander Caron Scrimger, 14th Battalion. (Mrs. Francis 
Scrimger, wife. Bank of Montreal, 24 Corboro street, S. W. I., Non, Eng- 
land.) Born, Montreal; enlisted, Valcartier, September 23, 1914. 

Lieut. Robert Shankland, 43rd Battalion. (William Shankland, father, 68 
Church street, Ayr, Scotland.) Born, Ayr, Scotland; enlisted, Winnipeg, 
December 18, 1914. 

L. Sergt. Ellis Welwood Sifton, 18th Battalion. (John J. Sifton, father, Wal- 
lacetown, Ont.) Born, Canada; enlisted, St. Thomas, Ont., October 23, 
1914. 

L. Cpl. Robert Spall, P. P. C. L. I. (Charles Spall, father, 2642 St. Urvain 
street, Montreal, P. Q.) Born, Eoling, Essex, England; enlisted, Winni- 
peg, July 28, 1915. 

Lieut. H. Strachan, 34th F. G. H. (Mrs. A. Strachan, R. N. S., Chauvin, 
Alta.) Born, Linlithgow, Scotland; enlisted, England, July 15, 1915. 

Lieut. James Edward Tait, Man. Regiment. (Mrs. Jessie Tait, wife, 71 Thehno 
block, Burnell street, Winnipeg, Man.) Bora, Dmnfries, Scotland; en- 
listed, Winnipeg, Man., February 4, 1916. 

Pte. John Francis Young, 87th Battalion. (Robert Charles Young, R. N. S., 
376 St. Phillips street, St. Henry, Montreal, P. Q.) Bom, Kidderminster, 
England; enlisted, Montreal, October 23, 1915. 

Sgt. Raphael Louis Zengel, Sask. Regiment. (Mrs. Mary Jane Zengel, R. N. S., 
114 17th avenue, N. E., Calgary, Alta.) Born, Minnesota, U. S. A.; 
enlisted, Virden, Man., January 7, 1915. 

Capt. Coulson Norman Mitchell, Rail, Constr. Depot. (C. N". Mitchell, father, 
310 Furby street, Winnipeg, Man.) Born, Winnipeg, Man.; enlisted, 
Ottawa, Ont., January 21, 1915. 



DIARY OF THE WORLD WAR 
1914 



June 28 


Francis Ferdinand shot at 


Aug. 


29 


New Zealanders in Samoa. 






Sarajevo. 


Sept. 


2 


Russians took Lemberg. 


July 


5 


Kaiser's War Coimcil at 
Potsdam. 


Sept. 


3 


Paris Government at Bor- 
deaux. 


July 


23 


Austro-Hungarian Note to 


Sept. 


5 


End of Retreat from Mons. 






Serbia. 


Sept. 


6 


First Marne battle begun. 


July 


28 


Austria declared war on 


Sept. 


15 


First Aisne Battle begun. 






Serbia. 


Sept. 


16 


Russians evacuated East 


July 


31 


State of war in Germany. 






Prussia. 


Aug. 


1 


Germany declared war on 
Russia. 


Sept. 


23 


First British Air Raid in 
Germany. 


Aug. 


2 


German ultimatum to Bel- 


Oct. 


9 


Fall of Antwerp. 






gium. 


Oct. 


13 


Belgian Government at 


Aug. 


3 


Germany declared war on 






Havre. 






France. 


Oct. 


20 


First Battle of Ypres begun. 


Aug. 


4 


Great Britain declared war 


Nov. 


1 


Naval action off Coronel. 






on Germany. 


Nov. 


5 


Great Britain declared war 


Aug. 


10 


France declared war on 






on Turkey. 






Austria. 


Nov. 


7 


Fall of Tsintau. 


Aug. 


12 


Great Britain declared war 


Nov. 


10 


Emden sunk. 






on Austria. 


Nov. 


21 


British occupied Basra. 


Aug. 


15 


Fall of Liege. 


Dec. 


2 


Austrians in Belgrade. 


Aug. 


16 


British army landed in 
France. 


Dec. 


8 


Naval Battle off the Falk- 
lands. 


Aug. 


20 


Germans occupied Brussels. 


Dee. 


14 


Serbians retook Belgrade. 


Aug. 


23 


Japan declared war on 
Germany. 


Dec. 


16 


Germans bombarded West 
Hartlepool. 


Aug. 


24 


Fall of Namur. 


Dec. 


18 


Hussein Kamel Sultan of 


Aug. 


25 


Sack of Louvain. 






Egypt. 


Aug. 


26 


Battle of Tannenberg. 


Dec. 


24 


First Air Raid on England. 


Aug. 


28 


British victory in the Bight. 









1915 

Jan. 24 Naval Battle off Dogger Mar. 10 British captured Neuve 

Bank. Chapelle. 

Feb. 2 Turks defeated on Suez April 22 Second Battle of Ypres be- 

Canal. gun. 

Feb. 18 U-boat "Blockade" of Eng- April 25 Allied landing in Gallipoli. 

land. May 3 Battle of the Dunajec. 

Feb. 25 Allied Fleet attacked Dar- May 6 Battle at Krithia Gallipoli. 

danelles. May 7 Lusitania torpedoed. 

* The authority for these dates is chiefly The London Times, to which the 
Author's thanks are due. 

[353] 



354 



CANADA AT WAE 



1915 



May 8 Germans occupied Libau. 

May 11 German repulse at Ypres. 

Mar. 22 Russians took Przemysl. 

May 12 General Botha occupied 
Windhuk. 

May 16 Russian Retreat to the San. 

May 23 Italy declared war on Aus- 
tria. 

May 25 Coalition Cabinet formed. 

June 2 Italians crossed Isonzo. 

June 3 Russians evacuated Prze- 
mysl. 

June 22 Austro-Germans recaptured 
Lemberg. 

July 2 Pommern svaik in Baltic. 

July 9 German South-West Africa 
conquered. 

July 24 Nasiriyeh, on Euphrates, 
taken. 

Aug. 4 Fall of Warsaw. 

Aug. 5 Fall of Ivangorod. 

Aug. 6 New Landing at Suvla Bay. 

Aug. 8 Gen. Birdwood's advance at 
Anzac. 

Aug. 9 British success near Hooge. 

Aug. 15 National Registration. 

Aug. 17 Fall of Kovno. 

Aug. 18 Russian victory in Riga 
Gulf. 

Aug. 19 Fall of Novo-Georgievsk. 

Aug. 21 Cotton declared contra- 
band. 

Aug. 25 Fall of Brest-Litovsk. 

Sept. 1 General Alexieff as Chief of 
Staff. 



Sept. 


2 


Fall of Grodno. 


Sept. 


5 


Tsar as Generalissimo. 


Sept. 


7 


Russian victory near Tar- 
nopol. 


Sept. 


18 


Fall of Vilna. 


Sept. 


21 


Russian Retreat ended. 


Sept. 


25 


Battle of Loos and in Cham- 
pagne. 


Sept. 


28 


Victory at Kut-el-Amara. 


Oct. 


4 


Russian Ultimatum to Bul- 
garia. 


Oct. 


5 


Allied Landing at Salonika. 


Oct. 


6 


Austro-German invasion of 
Serbia. 


Oct. 


9 


Belgrade occupied. 


Oct. 


14 


Bulgaria at war with 
Serbia. 


Oct. 


17 


Allied Note to Greece. 


Oct. 


19 


Lord Derby on the Forty- 
six Groups. 


Oct. 


22 


Bulgarians occupy Uskub. 


Oct. 


28 


M. Briand French Premier, 


Nov. 


5 


Fall of Nish. 


Nov. 


22 


Battle of Ctesiphon. 


Nov. 


29 


British withdrew from 
Ctesiphon. 


Dec. 


2 


Fall of Monastir. 


Dec. 


3 


General Townshend at Kut. 


Dec. 


10 


Allied Retreat in Mace- 
donia. 


Dec. 


13 


Salonika lines fortified. 


Dec. 


15 


Sir D. Haig C.-in-C. in 
France. 


Dec. 


19 


Withdrawal from Gallipoli. 


Dec. 


25 


Turkish Defeat at Kut. 



1916 

Jan. 8 Gallipoli Evacuation com- April 9 

plete. April 17 

Jan. 13 Fall of Cettinje. April 24 

F^. 9 General Smuts appointed to April 29 

East Africa. May 24 
Feb. 16 Russians entered Erzerum. 

Feb. 18 German Kamerun con- May 31 

quered. June 4 

Feb. 21 Battle of Verdun begun. June 5 

Feb. 24 Germans took Fort Doua- June 14 

mont. 

Mar. 16 Admiral Von Tirpitz dis- Jime 21 

missed. 



German assault at Verdun. 

Russians entered Trebizond. 

Rebellion in Ireland. 

Fall of Kut-el-Amara. 

British Conscription Bill 
passed. 

Battle of Jutland. 

General Brusiloff's offensive 

Lord Kitchener lost at sea. 

Allied Economic Confer- 
ence in Paris. 

Mecca taken by Grand 
Sherif. 



DIARY OF THE WORLD WAR 



355 



1916 



July 


1 


July 


25 


Aug. 


6 


Aug. 


10 


Aug. 


27 


Aug. 


29 


Sept. 


3 


Sept. 


26 


Oct. 


10 


Nov. 


1 


Nov. 


13 



Jan. 


1 


Feb. 


1 


Feb. 


3 


Feb. 


6 


Feb. 


24 


Mar. 


11 


Mar. 


12 


Mar. 


15 


Mar. 


18 


Mar, 


21 


April 


6 


April 


9 


June 


7 


June 12 


June 26 


July 


14 


July 


17 


July 


19 



Somme Battle begun. 
Russians occupied Erzinjan. 
Italian oflfensive on laonzo. 
Russians at Stanislau. 
Rumania entered the War. 
Hindenburg Chief of Staff. 
Zeppelin destroyed at Cuf- 

fley. 
British took Thiepval and 

Combles. 
Allied Ultimatum to Greece. 
Italian advance on Carso. 
British Victory on the An- 

cre. 



Nov. 18 



Nov. 29 



Dec. 


1 


Dec. 


5 


Dec. 


6 


Dec. 


7 


Dec. 


12 


Dec. 


15 


Dec. 


20 



1917 



Turkey denounced Berlin 
Treaty. 

"Unrestricted" U-Boat 
War begun. 

America broke with Ger- 
many. 

British captured Grand- 
court. 

British took Kut-el-Amara. 

British entered Bagdad. 

Revolution in Russia. 

Abdication of the Tsar. 

British entered Peronne. 

First British Imperial War 
Cabinet. 

America declared war on 
Germany. 

Battle of Vimy Ridge be- 
gun. 

British Victory at Messines 
Ridge. 

Abdication of King Con- 
stantine. 

First American troops in 
France. 

Bethmann Hollweg dis- 
missed. 

British Royal House styled 
" Windsor." 

Reichstag " Peace " Reso- 
lution. 



July 31 

Aug. 29 

Sept. 4 
Sept. 15 

Oct. 24 



Oct. 


29 


Oct. 


30 


Oct. 


31 


Nov. 


1 


Nov. 


4 


Nov. 


6 


Nov. 


7 


Nov. 


8 


Nov. 


9 


Nov. 


17 


Nov. 


18 


Nov. 


20 


Nov. 


30 


Dec. 


6 


Dec. 


9 



Serbians and French took 

Monastir. 
Grand Fleet under Sir D. 

Beatty. 
Anti-Allied Riot in Athens. 
Resignation of Mr. Asquith. 
Germans entered Bucharest. 
Mr. Lloyd George Prime 

Minister. 
German " Peace Proposals." 
French Victory at Verdun. 
President Wilson's Peace 

Note. 



Great Allied Attack around 
Ypres. 

President Wilson's Note to 
the Pope. 

Germans occupied Riga. 

Russian Republic pro- 
claimed. 

Italian Defeat at Capo- 
retto. 

Fall of Udine. 

Chancellor MichaeUs dis- 
missed. 

British captured Beersheba. 

German Retreat on Chemin 
des Dames. 

British troops in Italy. 

British stormed Passchen- 
daele Ridge. 

British captured Gaza. 

Bolshevist coup de etat in 
Russia. 

Italian stand on the Piave. 

British in Jaffa. 

General Maude's death in 
Mesopotamia. 

British Victory at Cambrai. 

German reaction at Cam- 
brai. 

Armistice on Russian Front. 

British captured Jerusalem. 



356 



CANADA AT WAR 



1918 



Jan. 5 


Mr. Lloyd George on War 




Aims. 


Jan. 20 


Breslau sunk; Goeben dam- 




aged. 


Feb. 1 


Germany recognized Uk- 




raine. 


Feb. 9 


First Brest Treaty Signed. 


Feb. 16 


General Wilson Chief of 




Staff. 


Feb. 18 


German Invasion of Russia. 


Feb. 21 


British capture Jericho. 


Feb. 24 


Turks recovered Trebizond. 


Feb. 25 


Germans at Reval. 


Mar. 3 


Second Brest Treaty. 


Mar. 7 


German Peace with Fin- 




land. 


Mar. 11 


Turks recovered Erzerum. 


Mar. 13 


Germans at Odessa. 


Mar. 14 


Brest Treaty ratified at 




Moscow. 


Mar. 24 


Bapaume and Peronne lost. 


April 5 


Allied Landing at Vladivo- 




stok. 


April 11 


Armentieres lost. 


April 13 


Turks occupied Batum. 


April 14 


General Foch, Allied Gen- 




eralissimo. 


April 15 


Bailleul lost. 


April 18 


Lord Milner War Secre- 




tary. 


April 22 


Naval Raid on Zeebrugge 




and Ostend. 


April 26 


Kemmel Hill lost. 


April 27 


Turks occupied Kars. 


May 1 


Germans at Sebastopol. 


May 9 


Second Raid on Ostend. 


May 29 


Soissons lost; Rheims held. 


May 31 


Germans reached Mame. 


June 9 


New German Assault. 


June 15 


Austrian Offensive in Italy. 


June 23 


Great Austrian Defeat. 


July 2 


1,000,000 Americans ship- 




ped to France. 


July 15 


Third German Offensive; 




Second Marne Battle be- 




gun. 


July 16 


Ex-Tsar shot at Ekaterin- 




burg. 



July 18 

July 20 

Aug. 2 
Aug. 8 

Aug. 29 

Sept. 1 
Sept. 2 

Sept. 12 



Sept. 


15 


Sept. 


25 


Sept. 


,27 


Sept. 


29 


Sept. 


30 


Sept. 


30 


Oct. 


1 


Oct. 


4 


Oct. 


9 


Oct. 


10 


Oct. 


13 


Oct. 


14 


Oct. 


15 


Oct. 


17 


Oct. 


19 


Oct. 


20 


Oct. 


25 


Oct. 


26 


Oct. 


27 


Oct. 


28 


Oct. 


29 


Oct. 


30 


Nov. 


1 


Nov. 


2 


Nov. 


3 



Nov. 4 



General Foch's counter- 
attack. 

Germans recrossed the 
Marne. 

Soissons recovered. 

British attack at Amiens 
successful. 

Bapaume and Noyon re- 
gained. 

Peronne recovered. 

The Drocourt-Queant line 
breached. 

American attack at St. 
Mihiel. 

Austrian Peace Note. 

Bulgaria proposed Armis- 
tice. 

Hindenburg line broken, 

Bulgaria surrendered. 

Fall of Damascus. 

Chancellor Hertling resigns. 

St. Quentin regained. 

Abdication of King Ferdi- 
nand. 

Cambrai regained. 

British took Le Cateau. 

French recovered Laon. 

British troops at Irkutsk. 

British in Homs. 

Ostend, Lille, Douai re- 
gained. 

Bruges reoccupied. 

Belgian Coast clear. 

Ludendorff resigned. 

Aleppo fell to the Allies. 

Austria sued for Peace. 

Italians crossed Piave. 

Serbians reached the Dan- 
ube. 

Turkey granted Armistice. 

The Versailles Conference 
opened. 

British at Valenciennes. 

Austrian Surrender; Kiel 
Mutiny. 

Versailles Armistice Agree- 
ment. 



DIARY OF THE WORLD WAR 



357 



1918 



Nov. 5 Full Powers for Marshal 
Foch; Mr. Wilson's Last 
Note to Germany. 

Nov. 6 Americans reached Sedan. 

Nov. 7 Bavarian Republic Pro- 
claimed. 

Nov. 9. Foch received German En- 
voys, 



Nov. 


9 


Chancellor Prince Max re- 
signed. 


Nov. 


9 


Berlin Revolution. 


Nov, 


10 


Kaiser's flight to Holland;' 
British at Mons. 


Nov. 


11 


Armistice terms accepted by 
Germany. 



A Story of Five Cities 



A CANADIAN EPIC OF ONE HUNDRED DAYS 

By 
EoBEET John Kenison 

Chaplain, 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade 



[369] 



I. Amiens, and the Turning of the Tide. 

II. Areas, Zero plus Twenty-four Hours, 

in. Cambeai, and the Gates of Pearl. 

rV. Valenciennes, and the Promised Land. 

V. MoNS, and the March to the Ehine. 

VI. The Invisible City, the Bivouac of the Dead. 



[360] 



I. AMIENS, 

AND The Tuening of the Tide 



THE RIVERS OF FRANCE 

By H. J. M. 

The rivers of France are ten score and twain. 

But five are the names that we know, 
The Marne, the Vesle, the Ourcq, and the Aisne, 

And the Somme of the swampy flow. 

The rivers of France, from source to the sea. 

Are nourished by many a rill. 
But these five, if ever a drought there be. 

The fountain of sorrow. would fill. 

The rivers of France shine silvery white. 

But the waters of five are red 
With the richest blood in the fiercest fight 

For freedom that ever was shed. 

It is difficult to realize that in 1918 we have passed 
through one of the shining nioments of the great story of 
mankind, and that there are names which are emblazoned 
on the standards of Canada which cannot be forgotten — 
names which should come before our children and our chil- 
dren's children forever. The epic of the past year is a 
wonderful story, to be told by maps and history and 
tongues more eloquent than ours when the true perspective 
shall appear. 

There are the names of five cities in France and Belgium, 
yet, strange to say, those cities seem to crystallize the 
greatest events of Canadian history. The five cities that 
stand out and shine like stars in our firmament along with 
Ypres, and one or two of the cities associated earlier with 
this war, are : Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Valenciennes and 
Mons. 

This chapter deals with Amiens. 

[361] 

24 



362 CANADA AT WAE 

About the middle of July the whole Canadian Corps was 
withdrawn from the line. Its four divisions had for some 
months been holding the line in the region of Arras. They 
had not been in a general engagement since Passchendaele. 
It was realized that they were being kept for some particu- 
lar purpose, for during the Spring, while the machine gun 
corps did splendid work, Canada as a whole did not take 
part in the general struggle along the British line; but 
about the middle of July the Canadian Corps was told that 
it was going to have a rest, and it did have about ten days. 

The only way to refer to the Canadians is to speak about 
the single unit that you know of, and you will multiply it a 
hundredfold. The term *' Canadian Corps" is used to 
describe the four Canadian divisions and their auxiliary of 
machine gunners and air force in contradistinction to the 
great lines of communication, which are not part of the 
striking force. 

The Canadian Corps, then, returning from the line, went 
into billets for rest, and for the first time circumstantial 
rumors went abroad as to their future mission. There were 
some strange stories about how we were going to advance, 
that we would embark at a certain point and go north to 
the Ypres salient of such tragic yet glorious memory. 

A modern battle is such a vast conception and often 
covers so much ground that it is difficult to give it a char- 
acteristic name that will live in history. Besides this, so 
many tides have ebbed and flowed along the western front 
during the last four years that the same names have con- 
stantly reappeared in despatches. 

But there are excellent reasons for thinking that, to 
Canadians at least, the battle of August 8th will be known 
by the name of the ancient city whose cathedral Euskin has 
declared to be the finest example of Gothic architecture in 
Europe. The name of the city, too, is associated with one 
of the greatest treaties of modern history. 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 363 

In the last century Amiens has become one of the great 
railway centres of France, and the immediate result of the 
battle was the elimination of a dangerous spearhead 
pointed between the French and the British armies and the 
complete resumption of railway traffic in a direct line from 
England to Paris. 

We all had felt certain that Canada would some day 
take part in another drive upon the German line. The 
memories of Vimy and Passchendaele were not dead, and 
when the whole Canadian Corps came out of the line we 
knew that the time was at hand. Our own brigade went 
into rest in a cluster of French villages, where the hos- 
pitable villagers made us welcome and Vin Blanc was a 
popular beverage. The testimony of our Lady of the Esta- 
minet was eloquent tribute to the sobriety of Canadians. 
''Les Canadiens hons soldat, petit zigzag/' was the 
expression in the lingua Franca of the billets. 

Suddenly one night the Canadians began to move, and for 
several days they saw much of the fertile plains of Picardy. 
One could not help noticing how admirably suited this part 
of France is for military operations. The whole country 
is tilled with laborious care. The splendid roads are lined 
with trees which give refreshing shade to marching troops, 
and the whole population of the country lives in the vil- 
lages, which nestle among the trees in every valley. The 
French people are essentially gregarious. The village 
streets are generally blind whitewashed walls, perforated 
here and there with doors in the great barn gates. On 
entering the visitor steps into a quadrangle floored with 
manure, while all around are geese, hens and cattle. 
Behind the farm house the guest will find a lovely orchard 
garden which the passing traveller would never suspect of 
being there. 

The bivouacs in these villages were very comfortable, and 
our welcome by the people was more than cordial, although 
every village was crowded with refugees from the northern 
cities. 



364 CANADA AT WAR 

In our last resting place before going to the front the 
battalion headquarters was in an estaminet where we were 
waited upon by a mademoiselle with an unforgetable 
friendly smile, which seemed to radiate equally upon all in 
the battalion. She was dressed in black and wore a medal- 
lion around her neck containing the portrait of her Armand 
— "*7 est fini Monsieur a Verdun." 

The night we left was a memorable one, for within a few 
kilometres it seemed as if Canada had gathered from the 
clouds. Cavalry, artillery and infantry divisions, long sep- 
arated, were now united joyfully for the great adventure. 

The roads were crowded with transport and greetings 
passed between units from Vancouver, Hamilton and Mon- 
treal. In the early hours of the morning we passed through 
the suburbs of a deserted city whose venerable cathedral 
pile looked down like the sentinel spirit of France — bat- 
tered but unbowed. 

Sunday was spent in Cagny, a suburb of Amiens. There 
was a wonderfully solemn communion service at 5:30 in 
the large ruined and deserted church. The place was three 
inches thick with dust and the doors blown off. The images 
and shrines were weirdly strange. About fifty men sat in 
the old pews, while the chaplain celebrated a fifteen minutes 
service in his khaki uniform at the remains of the high 
altar. 

The day before the battle a chaplain walked and crept 
about in every trench and spoke to every officer and man 
in his battalion. He gave them as a sermon five words on 
the five fingers of his hand, "The Lord is my Shepherd", 
and told them to hold on to the fourth finger. The day 
after the battle he met a boy of his brigade in the hospital 
dressing station, badly wounded, and when he saw him the 
lad lifted up his hand and held on to his fourth finger for 
him to see. 

At daybreak the brigade entered Cache Wood. Here they 
slept through the day. When the last night came the line 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 365 

was very near and the booming of the guns at irregular 
intervals and the occasional flares which lit the sky showed 
that the Canadians had come to a comparatively quiet front. 
As each unit in the Canadian Corps passed with unerring 
precision in the dark to its appointed position in the line, 
the infantry brigades passing the cavalry and artillery units 
on a new front, even the veriest novice could see something 
of the staff work of Canada's army; and we were only part 
of a greater organization working on one general plan. 
Surely in days of peace all that is best in war will be our 
legacy for the new world which is to be. 

It was known that the Canadians would cover a front of 
seven thousand five hundred yards, extending, as the 
advance proceeded, to ten thousand yards. The second 
division was on the left, next to the Australians ; the first 
division in the center, and the third division on the right, 
next to the French. The fourth division was in reserve. 
The battalions and brigades had all their appointed objec- 
tives, leap-frogging each other as their turn came. There 
was to be no preparatory bombardment, surprise being an 
element in the attack. The tanks were to lead the way. 
You will best appreciate the scene if given a description of 
what could be seen by one pair of eyes. 

Our own battalion was to open the attack on one portion 
of the sector. The day before the men occupied the reserve 
trenches, our cousins, the Australians, who had held the line 
for some time, remained in it until the last moment, so 
that no knowledge of the arrival of Canadians might by 
any possibility reach the enemy. It had been raining for 
a day or two, but now the rain had ceased, and all day the 
men lay on the ground above the trenches sunning them- 
selves within a few hundred yards of the front line. They 
spent their time in perfecting their equipment and polishing 
their arms. The next battalion to us could be seen lined 
up in long lines in a back trench waiting their turn to grind 
their bayonets on the grindstones. 



CQS CANADA AT WAR 

A tour of the trenches gave one an opportunity to esti- 
mate the spirit of the men. They were all radiant and 
confident, and as evening drew near there were few but 
must have been thinking of home. In every dugout men 
were writing letters, and for many of them it was the last 
message. I heard an old sergeant say: ''Boys, I would 
give a good deal to read the Toronto papers about next 
Saturday. I don 't know what this show will be called, but 
I am sure it will be a great day in Canadian history." 

The battalion was very fortunate in its commanding 
officer, Lt.-Col. Elmer Jones, d.s.o., who was one of the 
most brilliant and beloved officers in the Canadian Army, 
a man of wide culture, born in Brockville. At the beginning 
of the war he gave up his law practice in Vancouver and 
came over with the battalion early in 1915. A veteran of 
St. Eloi, the Somme and Vimy, he was a father to every 
man in the battalion. His influence over his officers was 
quite extraordinary. He called them all by their Christian 
names, and his humorous badinage touched the spot with 
unerring instinct. His last conference with his company 
officers was a lesson in the power of personality. He sat 
on a couch in the dugout with hand and leg bandaged, for he 
had not recovered from a painful accident of the week 
before, and in quiet tones gave each one his final instruc- 
tions. His confidence in them and their affectionate respect 
for him were beautiful to behold. As they left he said, 
** Good-bye, boys, and God bless you." Several times in 
the last three days he repeated to himself John McCrae's 
"In Flanders Fields." 

After dark, as the Canadians took their positions at the 
jumping-off point, the whole country seemed alive with 
ghostly figures. In the last few hours guns were drawn 
from the nearby woods and horses stood in the trenches. 
In the words of the sergeant-major, "The artillery always 
consider themselves invisible." The great question in 
everybody 's ntjind was, * * Does the Hun know ? " He seemed 



A STOKY OP FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 367 

to have nervous premonitions, for the sky was constantly 
lighted with all kinds of flares — "every color except 
black," as one man put it. 

An hour before zero, suddenly the Germans began a bom- 
bardment of our lines. They must have heard something, 
for the whole ground shook with the explosion of the sheUs. 
The platoon wit expressed the situation exactly: "He 
heaved over everything from his false teeth to the kitchen 
stove.'* The men lay flat on the ground while flares shot up 
every few moments, clearly revealing any object standing 
against the sky. 

At 4:20, to the second, a blaze of crimson lighted the 
whole horizon behind us for miles. Three seconds later 
there was a deafening roar from hundreds of guns. The 
enemy's noise was instantly lost in the din; the shells 
screamed overhead like countless legions of destroying 
angels. In front the green turf was churned by an invisible 
harrow. It was impossible to distinguish the sound of the 
individual guns, but the sensation rather resembled the 
throbbing of an engine built to drive a planet in its course. 

With one accord, along the whole line, the men leaped on 
the parapet and "went over the top. ' ' The company officers, 
with synchronized watches and compasses, led their men as 
if on parade. Stories of the first moments came to us from 
other sectors. The Fifteenth were led over by their pipe 
band, and in another place the tank "Dominion" led the 
procession mth a piper skirling from its top. The tanks 
looked like prehistoric monsters as they lumbered over the 
trenches into the mist with their noses to the ground on 
the trail of machine-gun nests. 

As wave after wave advanced the Colonel sat in the 
trench sending messages to brigade headquarters that all 
was well. Finally he disconnected his wire and, lame as he 
was, followed his battalion into the haze, now made sul- 
phurous by the smoke of the guns. 



368 CANADA AT WAE 

After passing over the German trenches the dead and 
wounded began to appear, the Boche much more numerous 
than our own. There were evidences of many hand-to-hand 
conflicts in which the personal superiority of the Canadian 
was evident. Within a mile the prisoners began to appear, 
running unarmed from shell-hole to shell-hole shouting 
''Kamerad'' as they lifted both hands to any approaching 
soldier. The conquering spirit was surely with the Cana- 
dians that day. The Twenty-first would take no denial. 
The mist over the cornfields caused some of the tanks to 
overlook the machine-gun posts which were dotted every- 
where. The result was that there were numerous instances 
of personal gallantry. Two men — Fenmck and McPhee — 
with a Lewis gun, after their party was broken up, made a 
business of capturing machine guns ; one man handled the 
gun and the other carried several spare drums of ammuni- 
tion, and thus they rushed post after post. When the bat- 
talion captured Marcel Cave (with due respect to the 
correspondent who credits it to the Australians), Fenwick 
and McPhee were seen with their helmets askew loaded with 
souvenirs and, fortified with Hun refreshment, simply 
*' eating up the town,'' the very personification of Canada's 
conquering spirit. Every man was loaded with all kinds of 
trophies which symbolized, not material gain, but the vic- 
tory of the spirit. 

The Colonel was hit mth a machine-gun bullet about a 
mile from the town. The wound was mortal and he died 
in five minutes without a word. He was truly a perfect 
gentle knight and a most gallant gentleman. He was car- 
ried out shoulder high by four prisoners, two of them 
officers, who were informed by the Colonel's batman that 
they had never performed a more honorable task. 

The return was a sight for a great painter. The dead 
and wounded lay thick upon the ground, where already the 
stretcher-bearers were hurrying to the sign of the rifle 
stuck by a bayonet into the sod with the cap perched on 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 369 

the butt. Streams of dejected prisoners came through the 
fields and soon were set to work carrying out the wounded. ' 
The horse artillery had already galloped forward, and one 
could not help admiring the glorious animals, which stood 
unmoved by their blazing guns while many of their number 
lay dying all around. 

As the sun rose victoriously over the mist, the long lines 
of cavalry were seen advancing. They cantered by, squad- 
ron after squadron, for the moment for which they had 
waited had come and they were about to write a new chap- 
ter in the military history of our time. The gleaming 
lances of the Seventeenth Lancers slanted to the east of 
Cache Wood, and the Inniskilling Dragoons added a his- 
toric touch to the epic of the day. The roads as if by 
magic were already marked "Walking wounded this way'* 
or *' Lorries only," while traffic managers stood at cross- 
ings which three hours before were within the German Hues 
and answered questions with perfect omniscience. 

Our path lay through the ruins of Villers Brettoneux, a 
large town captured by the Australians some weeks before. 
Here one could appreciate the complete desolation caused 
by modern heavy artiUery. Adready the roads were 
crowded with all the conglomerate traffic of an advancing 
army. Nothing seemed to have been forgotten. Men ten 
miles beyond the German trenches received their letters 
from home that very night. 

At the advanced dressing-station the incoming wounded 
were already being cared for with tenderness and skill. 
Some of the finest medical skiU in the world is to be found 
in the C.A.M.C., whose staff worked night and day and 
with a devotion beyond all praise. For the following days 
at every dressing-station and camp on every road every- 
thing was wide open. The Y.M.C.A., the Chaplain Service 
and the Red Cross all worked together. Their personnel 
and material were pooled. No wounded man or tired driver 
went empty away. Coffee stalls ran day and night while 



370 CANADA AT WAR 

the evacuation continued. Without these services much of 
the work done would have been quite impossible. 

We buried the Colonel in a little British cemetery on the 
main road, in an eastern suburb of the city which he had 
helped to deliver. The evening sun went down over the 
glorious pile of the cathedral, only a mile away. When a 
few days later a great thanksgiving service was held there 
for the deliverance of the city, his spirit must have felt the 
reward of duty done for France, for Canada and mankind. 
A rough oak cross made from a shovel handle marks the 
grave, with the silver identification disc from his wrist as 
his temporary epitaph. 

At three o'clock on the first afternoon there were two 
thousand prisoners in a single wire cage. They were petri- 
fied with surprise. A German officer told me that it was 
impossible that we should be Canadians — *'We have the 
most certain information from our Intelligence Department 
that the Canadians are in Belgium.'' 

They are an unholy mixture. Individually they seem 
very quiet, docile and most sentimental. On all occasions 
they are anxious to show the photographs of their women 
folk, and yet a Princess Pat, whose battalion suffered in a 
counter-attack two days later, told of our wounded who 
were stabbed as they hung in the barbed wire. 

The sentimental Hun is a psychological mystery — we 
must let it go at that. 

There is a beautiful deserted chateau, standing in noble 
grounds shaded with stately trees, which, however glorious 
its history, never played such a distinguished role or shel- 
tered such a splendid gathering as on a certain August 
day in this year of its desertion. 

Early in the morning the Gr.O.C. of the Canadian Corps 
might have been seen riding past the gates, followed by 
his banner and his orderlies, on his way to the front. In 
the early afternoon we saw him riding over the battle- 
field, a soldierly figure of Canada in action ^s he rode r^sp- 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 371 

lately forward. The great rooms of the chateau were fitted 
with operating tables, while all the grounds were covered 
with stretchers of the wounded. The walking cases, dusty, 
tired and blood-stained, but full of fight and enthusiasm, 
came by, as the hours passed, in a great procession. Their 
spirit was wonderful. As for the more seriously wounded, 
the sight was the greatest lesson that many a chaplain ever 
learned. 

The heroism and resignation of the average man — the 
greatest sermon I ever hope to hear — was preached to me 
that day. Some, of course, were terribly wounded, but not 
many, for as they lay there, waiting their turn, there was; 
not one complaint. I saw one hero with his head bandaged, 
all except a bright blue eye, who held a cigarette at a 
jaunty angle from a hole in the bandage. Another man, 
badly wounded in both legs, lay on a stretcher sound asleep, 
with an arm around his little dog, that slept beside him. 
They had gone over the top together that morning. 
Another happy warrior, badly gassed, lay weak but smil- 
ing, with his haversack full of "souvenirs.'' He had cap- 
tured a battalion headquarters, including a major, two cap- 
tains and a couple of subalterns — he said he had enough 
compasses and glasses for aU his girls, and he had four 
iron crosses. 

As the later wounded came in the magnitude of the 
victory became more apparent. As the men lay in their 
suffering they refused to talk of themselves, but only of 
their comrades at the front and Canada. ''What would I 
not give to be at home to-night when the news comes in," 
was the cry of more than one who earned his rest. 

Among the very happiest of all were the very moderately 
wounded men who had a certain ''Blighty". They had 
done their part and now looked forward to a rest. On the 
whole, considering the magnitude of the operation, the 
casualties were remarkably light and the proportion of 
killed very small. The preparations had been well made, 
and the team work of the various branches of the Corps 



372 CANADA AT WAR 

was perfect. We gladly recognize that we are part of a 
great organization — the advance of the French towards 
Lassigny, on our right, and the indomitable work of the 
Australians on our left was a matter of pride and congratu- 
lation. But this is a story of Canada's part in the struggle. 
Already 9,000 prisoners and 150 guns had been captured. 
Our line had advanced nearly fifteen miles. Altogether it 
will live as one of the greatest achievements of the Cana- 
dian Army. And this had been accomplished by our own 
men, who, four years ago, never dreamt that Canada would 
write her name in letters of gold on the portals of one of 
the most ancient shrines of Christian civilization. 

On the fifth day Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur W. 
Currie, commanding the Canadians, wrote the following 
message, in which he outlined briefly what had been accom- 
plished, thanked all those under his command, and gave the 
reasons for the success. This message was later published 
in a Special Order : 

**The first stage of this battle of Amiens is over, and 
one of the most successful operations conducted by the 
Allied Armies since the war began is now a matter of 
history. 

**The Canadian Corps has every right to feel more than 
proud of the part it played. To move the Corps from the 
Arras front and in less than a week launch it in battle so 
many miles distant was in itself a splendid performance. 
Yet the splendor of that performance pales into insignifi- 
cance when compared with what has been accomplished 
since zero hour on August 8th. 

''On that date the Canadian Corps, to which was attached 
the Third Cavalry Division, the Fourth Tank Brigade, and 
the Fifth Squadron E. A. F., attacked on a front of 7,500 
yards. After a penetration of 22,000 yards, the line 
to-night rests on a 10,000 yard frontage. Sixteen German 
divisions have been identified, of which four have been 
completely routed. Nearly 150 guns have been captured, 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 373 

while over 1,000 machine guns have fallen into our hands. 
Ten thousand prisoners have passed through our cages and 
casualty clearing stations, a number greatly in excess of 
our total casualties. Twenty-five towns and villages have 
been rescued from the clutch of the invaders, the Paris- 
Amiens Eailway has been freed from interference, and the 
danger of dividing the French and British armies has been 
dissipated. 

''Canada has always placed the most implicit confidence 
in her Army. How nobly has that confidence been justified, 
and with what pride has the story of your gallant success 
been read in the homeland! This magnificent victory has 
been won because your training was good, your discipline 
was good, your leadership was good. Given these three, 
success must always come. 

''From the depths of a very full heart I wish to thank all 
staffs and services, the infantry, the artillery, the cavalry, 
the engineers, the machine-gunners, the independent force, 
consisting of the motor machine-gun brigade and the cyc- 
lists, the tank battalions, the R. A. F., the medical services, 
the army service corps, the ordnance corps, the veterinary 
services, the chaplain services, for their splendid support 
and co-operation, and to congratulate you all on the won- 
derful success achieved. Let us remember our gallant dead, 
whose spirit shall ever be with us, inspiring us to nobler 
effort ; and when the call again comes, be it soon or other- 
wise, I know the same measure of success will be yours.*' 

The f ollomng story is only one of many which came to 
the notice of the world : 

"A lieutenant of a celebrated French Canadian battalion, 
since dead, was recommended for the V. C. in the following 
terms : 

"For most conspicuous gallantry and almost superhuman 
devotion to duty, leading a company for two days with 
absolute fearlessness and extraordinary ability and initia- 
tive. On August 9th his company's left flank was held up 



374 CANADA AT WAR 

by an enemy machine-gun. He rushed and captured the 
machine-gun personally, killing two of the enemy crew. 
Whilst doing this he was wounded in the thigh, but refused 
to be evacuated. Later the same day his company was held 
up by heavy fire from a machine-gun nest. He personally 
organized a party of two platoons, and rushed straight for 
the machine-gun nest, where 150 Germans and fifteen 
machine-guns were captured, the lieutenant personally kill- 
ing five Germans and being wounded a second time, now in 
the shoulder, but he again refused to be evacuated. 

*'In the evening he saw a field-gun firing on his men over 
open sights. He organized and led a rushing party towards 
the gun, and after progressing about 600 yards, he was 
seriously wounded in the abdomen. In spite of this third 
wound, he continued to advance some 200 yards more, when 
he fell unconscious from exhaustion and loss of blood. His 
wonderful example throughout the day fired his men with 
an enthusiasm and fury which largely contributed towards 
the battalion's notable achievements that day.'' 

One thing we must believe is that deep down in every 
man there is a well of nobility which in times past we have 
never appreciated. The thing that war has done has been 
to bring out that quality in man. The reproach of the 
Church is that this chord has never been touched. It is 
religion. It is of the very essence of things. The name of 
Christ Himself is the Name that every man reverences. 
There are a great many who do not know Him, but if they 
knew Christ as He is, they would want to meet the deep 
sympathetic heart of Him who is the Saviour of the world. 
I hope the Churches of the world will yet touch that deep 
well of religion in the average man. It was not a new dis- 
covery to know how interesting the ordinary man is, but I 
think no one could possibly realize the wealth of splendor 
there is in the average boy as seen in France during the 
last summer. 



A STORY OP FIVE CITIES: AMIENS 375 

A special word to those who will look upon France as 
a sacred place. Those who have given their lives (the very- 
finest, noblest and best of civilization) over there, I cannot 
but think that these, who have given their all, have accom- 
plished more than many an older man here. The complete- 
ness of any life is not to be measured by length of years. 
Few of those who are now living, however long and 
distinguished may be the career before them, will contrib- 
ute as much to their country and generation as the young 
men who finished their work before noon and went to sleep 
on the Eoye Koad on the Day of the Turning of the Tide. 



II. ARRAS 

^EKO Plus Twenty-foue Hours 

" Bear me to the heart of France, 
Is the longing of the Shield — 
Tell thy name, thou trembling Field, 
Field of death, where'er thou be. 
Groan thou with our victory! " 

— WORDSWOETH. 

The events of the past year have been so great, they have 
been fraught with so many consequences in the lives of all 
of us who are members of society in this generation, and the 
influence of the story when it becomes known, as it will be in 
years to come, will have so much power in the lives of those 
who are but children today, that it is only right that we 
should think upon "what great things God hath done for 
us.'* I shall tell you a plain, unvarnished tale, simply the 
diary of a few days. 

I have said that the advance could be summed up, so far 
as Canada is concerned, around the unique names of five 
great cities. I spoke of Amiens, the turning of the tide. 
I want now to tell you of Arras, a name which for the last 
four years has been heard of wherever the English tongue 
has been spoken. It is one of those interesting, quaint and 
beautiful places in the northern part of France, and, more 
than any other city in the war zone, perhaps, has suffered 
from the ravages and terrors of war. There used to be in 
the centre of the city a beautiful cathedral, one of the 
glories of northern France, and to-day there are only a 
heap of stones and a few ashes left, — there are a few thou- 
sands of tons of what stood as granite walls at one time, and 
a few fragments of carving that came from the high altar, 
some traces of the foundation, and a few steps, and the 
great square whpre the cathedral once stood today looks 
like something you might find among the ruins of Babylon. 

[375] 







01 


fl 


>. 


M 


.bjO 


'.t; 


t^ 


(/J 


o 


C3 


03 








4^ 


fl 


'■+J 




^ 


r/i 


tS 


'•a 

as 

a 
o 


Oi 


<u 

a 








3 
O 


O 


H 










bO 


1^ 


>> 


S 


o 


M 


•a 

o 


.? 




so 




(U 


^. 




,£3 


m 



M 





M 


c 


C 


o 


•S 




ts 


M 


n 


PI 


ttf 


o 


S 




o 




O 




2 


3 


a 


a< 


0) 


(/5 


O 


4) 


+-1 


_g 


OT 






^ 


-l-> 

<+-l 


o 


0) 


^ 


*A 


W 






m 


£ 


s 


(V 




w 


rt 




O 


_M 








(1> 


a> 


■g 




S3 




o 




)-1 




3 


(V 


5 


43 


u 




<J 


s 






^H■ 


s 


CO 


03 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: AREAS 377 

It never will be rebuilt, because more than a year ago there 
was a notice posted by the French Government that what- 
ever the issue of the war, the cathedral of Arras would be 
treasured just as the war left it, as a memorial to the future 
ages. Day after day for two years the high velocity shells 
fell on the spot. 

There was also the railway station, the foundations of 
which were shelled from Douai, thirty kilometres away. It 
is now a mass of ruins. But the city itself was almost sym- 
bolical of France. It was never captured, but stands as the 
high-water mark of German invasion. Before the advance 
you could look out and, only a short distance away, see the 
line that marked the border between civilization and bar- 
barism. At Neuville Vitasse, about five miles away, there 
is not one stone standing upon another where there was 
once a famous health resort. I walked for two hours to 
see if any sign was there that looked like a building, but 
besides the fragments of pavement nothing remains. But 
Arras is a symbol, and always will be in the minds of those 
who have been there, a type of hope and glory as well as of 
sorrow and tragedy unspeakable. 

The story of the first phase of the battle of Arras has 
already been told, and certainly its results are known to 
anyone who studies the war maps of the Western Front. 
So much has been said about the cosmic nature of this duel, 
where the clink of blades is the clash of armies and a 
riposte the lunge of many divisions, that one sometimes 
may forget that the atoms in the tempered blade are living 
men. It should require no apology to turn aside from the 
fascinating study of the Pyramids to look in imagination at 
the men who are building them. 

A veteran of Vimy, who attended the prorogation of 
Parliament in Ottawa, wrote to his chum over here that the 
statesmen of Canada, after their spell in the trenches, were 
going into rest-billets for the rest of the year. Following 
this good example we suddenly prorogued the debate at 

25 



878 CANADA AT WAE 

Amiens, and by a magic wand (no matter how) went into 
billets for two days. It was glorious while it lasted. The 
village was an idyll of rural France, the barns were white- 
washed, and the fields were laden with sheaves of golden 
corn. There was an estaminet for each company, and the 
hens laid incessantly for the troops. The president of the 
mess produced marvellous menus every three hours. In 
place of the Gotha, the drone of the bees lulled the R. S. M. 
to sleep. Far off seemed desolation and the weary road. It 
was the land of the lotus-eaters, *' where it always seemed 
afternoon." Just as the Beau Brummel of the battalion 
had sent his washing out (not before it was needed), with 
the instructions ^'Toute suite," the ominous mandate went 
forth, "Prepare to move at an hour's notice," and soon 
afterwards we were in columns of fours. 

"Good-byee, don't cryee, 
There's a silver lining in the skyee. 

If a nine-point-two 

Gets a line on you, 
It's a case of napoo — Good-Byee ! " 

The next evening the descending sun illumined some old 
familiar ruins on a hill not unknown to Canadians of the 
original division. Someone said, "We are to finish our 
picnic in the Hindenburg line" — and so it proved. 

While a modern battle, by the thunderbolt which man has 
forged for himself, reaches an imaginative grandeur 
undreamed of in the past, it must be confessed that the 
romantic side has gone. The steel hehnet has slain the 
bearskin busby. 

A hundred years ago the Colonel, resplendent in scarlet 
and gold, crowned like Jove, sat upon his coal-black charger 
on the crest of a hill. As he pointed with sword at the dis- 
tant enemy, well out of musket range, full three hundred 
yards away, the rising sun gleamed on the medals of Sala- 
manca and Badajoz upon his breast. His men, as they 
rammed home their buUets, knew that the self-same sun, 
before it set, would see the fate of an empire settled and 



A STORY OP FIVE CITIES: AERAS 379 

victory won ' ' for England, home and beauty. ' ' To-night his 
great-grandson conunands a Canadian battalion on the eve 
of another battle. You will not find him on yonder hill, 
neither can his men be seen standing firmly against the 
sky-line. 

There is a dingy cellar, dug with infinite labor by the 
Hun in his impregnable line, from which he has retired for 
"strategic reasons." He is about to make a further 
retirement in the same direction, but does not know it yet. 
The dugout is dimly lighted with wax candles. A table in 
the center is covered with maps, over which a couple of 
unshaven youths are earnestly wrangling. The adjutant, 
a young man with an authoritative manner, dictates to a 
stenographer (not a lady), who hammers his typewriter 
with as much nonchalance as if he were sitting upon a 
swivel-chair instead of a petrol tin. The buzzing of a tele- 
phone reveals a signaller in the corner, who constantly 
repeats messages from nowhere. Eunners come and go 
every minute of the night. 

Eecumbent figures adorn the bunks along the tunnel. 
The gas officer is engaged in a reconnaisance on his shirt. 
The commanding officer reclines upon the States couch, 
made from an ammunition box and bull-proof fence wire. 
His tunic, which has a ribbon or two not unknown to fame, 
is rolled into a ball to make a pillow, and he is supposed 
to be asleep. But nothing escapes him. In the midst of 
apparently profound slumber he asks, "Have the wire- 
cutters come up yet?" and five minutes later says, "Get me 
Brigade." He has time in the next quarter of an hour to 
interview a certain "Toe Emma" and discuss some inter- 
esting gossip about the liaison of tanks. The atmosphere 
is gradually permeated with the aroma of supper, which the 
long-suffering cook, with many objurgations, is preparing 
on an alcohol lamp. 

The four company commanders enter for their final 
conference with the 0. C. They are muddy and stained, 



380 CANADA AT WAB 

and their fighting clothes show evidence of a batman's 
engineering skill. Three of them are subalterns, which may 
explain, to those who wonder what a soldier does with his 
pay, why fighting clothes are necessary to men who have 
gone over the top through uncharted barbed wire three 
times in a week recently. But the men themselves, as they 
salute the Colonel, are worth observing, for they form 
pictures of modern Canada. They are all young, but they 
have had more experience than many a full colonel of pre- 
war days. They all wear decorations. 

The 0. C. of **A'' Company is a young giant with the 
face of a boy. Arthur May carries himself with the care- 
less swing of an Irish D'Artagnan — the very dip of his 
steel helmet is all his own. He has a merry blue eye, equally 
dangerous in a German trench and on the Strand. His 
men swear by him, and no wonder. His exploits in many 
a raid, I am afraid, would not make Sunday reading. 
Everybody loves him except the Hun. 

McCrimmon, who commands *'B" Company, is Scotch. 
He is very polite and careful in his speech. You might 
consider him slow if you had never seen him charge a 
trio of field-guns which were enfilading his company at 
point-blank range, hold the position against all comers 
back to back with his sergeant, and then thoughtfully take 
a piece of chalk from his pocket (brought for such an emer- 
gency) and mark the guns ** Captured by B Company." 
He wears three pips, being the only captain of the four. 

Harry Dean is English. You could never mistake him 
for anything else. Short and sturdy, with a strong, deeply- 
lined face, he seems built for endurance rather than speed. 
Somewhat inclined to take a melancholy view of life, a 
stranger who heard him speak of his comrades might think 
that he never did anything himself. He is the type of that 
strange English generosity, so apparent just now, that 
praises everyone but self, and does not do that simply 
because it seems inconceivable that England could ever do 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: AREAS 381 

less than the maximum. Dean always sees the difficulties in 
the objectives before, and never after, zero hour. He has 
been in every Canadian battle since St. Eloi, but can never 
manage to qualify for a separation allowance. That is a 
handicap which he is determined to overcome on his next 
leave. 

**D" Company, as is fitting, is commanded by *Hhe 
Count." Alexis is our paragon of Eomance. Every lance- 
corporal on leave endeavors in vain to imitate his walk. 
Eumor credits him with a palace in Petrograd and a coun- 
try estate in the Crimea. He is as full of temperament as a 
lady novelist's hero. He speaks several languages, and his 
English is both idiomatic and pungent. "You shoot my 
men?" he shouted to a *'Kamerad" who had worked his 
machine gun to the last minute and was now clasping his 
captor 's boots. ' ' You shoot my men ? Yes ? No I " The 
narrator gave an ominous ''click" to signify the end of the 
interview. 

Such are the four company commanders in a typical 
Canadian fighting battalion. These men are the lords of 
their own domain, wielding with even hand the sword of 
Justice — the high, the middle, and the low among their 
subjects. Behind them all, remote, vigilant, yet seldom 
appealed to in matters of discipline, stands the awesome 
figure of the commanding officer. 

''Esprit de corps" is an interesting pyschological study. 
Canadians are intensely proud of the British Army in 
France. The romantic story of the deathless deeds of the 
men of Mons and Suvla Bay sheds lustre over those old 
Imperial divisions which had traditions before Canada was 
born. And yet for the average Canadian our Canadian 
Corps is a thing apart. We admit it — we shudder to think 
what Marshal Foch would do without it! Again, it is 
admitted that the finest division in the Canadian Corps is 
our own — we can prove it. As for brigades, there never 
was more than one fighting brigade. It carries the others. 



382 CANADA AT WAK 

And so it goes with battalion, company, platoon. After the 
Battle of Amiens I saw a corporal and a dozen survivors 
of Sullivan's famous fighting platoon discussing the opera- 
tion. One would have thought they had won the battle — 
and so they had. Happy is the commander, be he lieuten- 
ant or field marshal, who can use that spirit. 

The conference which had much to do with the success 
or failure of the assault of the Drocourt-Queant line, to 
say nothing of the destinies of hundreds of men, lasted for 
an hour, when the visitors hastened to their companions to 
hold a similar council with their platoon commanders and 
non-conmaissioned officers. It cannot be too widely known 
that the greatest modern battle is in the hands of the young 
platoon officers and their sergeants once that zero hour has 
come. On their courage, resourcefulness and tenacity 
depend the results, no matter how brilliant the strategy. 

''Over the top" is an expression which has been thought- 
lessly desecrated by civilians all over the Empire. Whether 
it be a Y. M. C. A. whirlwind campaign, a Eed Cross dance, 
or a municipal bond issue, any special effort is dignified 
by a name which to the soldier signifies the apotheosis of 
war. He may have gone through months, or even years 
of routine warfare, but he measures all things and all men 
by that hour when he crouched in the trench waiting for 
zero. Before lies the grey mist of No Man's Land. Ere 
noon it will be over — the objective, Blighty, or R. I. P. 
The man has yet to be born whose pulse does not beat faster 
at the words ' ' Over the top with the best of luck. ' ' 

It is only half an hour to zero, and as the oval three- 
quarter moon dives into an east-bound cloud, ghostly fig- 
ures are seen creeping from the trenches through the cruel 
wire tresses of the Calypso of No Man's Land. There is not 
a sound as the battalion, in perfect formation, crouches on 
the mark for the pistol shot. There is perfect liaison on 
right and left for miles. 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: AEEAS 383 

Suddenly the drone of a German aeroplane draws near, 
and a moment later the staccato of machine-gnns tells of an 
encounter right over the lines. Our airmen evidently have 
no intention of allowing Fritz to make a reconnaissance. 
A combat in the dark behind the clouds is the sort of 
thing that Dore would have liked to picture. The eye, the 
ear and the imagination all contribute colours. This par- 
ticular one ended in a scene seldom witnessed, even in 
France. The German 'plane burst into flames and dropped 
from the moon like a June bug from a gas jet. Five hun- 
dred feet from the ground the wings flew off and the unfor- 
tunate victim fell like Lucifer into the Boche lines. The 
petrol, the flares and ammunition exploded. The whole 
episode made the last few minutes seem like years to the 
throbbing figures crouched in the woods and shell-holes 
along the front. 

A modern barrage is a thing of mathematics. In all but 
its perpetuity it is as irresistible as the march of the 
Equinox. Its first herald is the scream of the heavies, fired 
miles behind the line and timed to land with missiles which 
have made a shorter journey. From the Olympus-shaking 
9.2 to the rattle of machine-guns, everything is there. It 
creeps along minute by minute, from furlong to furlong, 
while in the cool of its shade the line advances. 

When the last wave has gone over, the Headquarters 
party follows. The line of contact is already a mile away, 
but the Germans are now pounding our trench area in a 
most annoying manner. Colonel Pense, who leads the way, 
sets a pace like Tom Longboat. In peace times he would be 
considered a promising youth and might be second in com- 
mand of a company in a militia regiment. He has a most 
unfair advantage of the rest of the section, for his stride 
just covers a shell-hole, while the others every minute have 
to do a half circumference. In passing he points out a 
celebrated town which for three years alternately has been 
the target for the batteries of both sides. ''When in doubt, 



384 CANADA AT WAE 

strafe Neuville Vitasse," seems to have been a motto faith- 
fully followed. Nothing bnt an occasional iron gate or a 
squared stone wall tells that houses ever stood there. 

The Huns certainly heeded the apostolic injunction to 
''lay aside every weight," for the ground is littered with 
cowskin knapsacks, water-bottles, and rifles, while great- 
coats are seen everywhere. But they never drop their steel 
helmets until the last moment. 

As the sun came up a wide ravine on the right gave a 
wonderful view of the advancing battalions on the other 
side. For a few minutes it looked like the picture of a 
pitched battle from the Franco-Prussian War. Then three 
tanks hit the line, going over machine-gun posts, and the 
wave passed on. 

There is a certain *'sub" who has some of the tendencies 
of Joab, the son of Zeruiah. He carries two revolvers and 
a Celtic temperament. His sole German vocabulary is 
"Heraus mit dir/' At the first reserve trench a long line 
of "Kamerads" appears, like Agag, ''walking delicately." 
Disdaining to send an escort with them, he waves them to 
the rear. The only prisoners in the first two miles who did 
not have their hands up were four who had their hands in 
the pockets of their baggy trousers, and this was because 
they had been relieved of their "Gott mit uns" belts. 

The sub 's auburn head was a very oriflamme in the first 
wave of the battle. His little French-Canadian batman 
followed him like a shadow, and was in every shell-hole a 
step behind him as he led his company against the machine- 
guns. When the trench was captured, they investigated 
dug-outs with a Mills bomb and "Heraus mit dir" (out 
with you). "Pardon, kamerad," was the response, and a 
platoon of Germans filed up the steps. All encounters were 
not so peaceful, for the machine-gunners fought with desper- 
ation. In one melee one might have heard a cool voice, 
"Put on your helmet, Heinie; I want to see whether it is 
bullet-proof." So they went from trench to trench, com- 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: AERAS 385 

pany vying with company and platoon with platoon for 
pride of place. 

Within two honrs Battalion Headquarters were estab- 
lished three miles within the German Headquarters, and 
the Colonel was calmly carrying on his administrative 
work. The red-banded runners attached to Headquarters 
were fearlessly carrying messages under heavy shell fire. 
These men are among the best in all that goQS to make an 
ideal soldier. In certain stages of an offensive operation 
their work is of priceless value. They are absolutely 
oblivious to personal danger. 

The M. 0., leaving the work in the rear for the dressing- 
station, has established a regimental aid post in the same 
trench. His first case was an amusing one. He had issued 
orders that no German wounded should be brought until 
our own men were cared for. As he sat with an anti-tank 
gun on his knee, wondering how big a hole it would make, 
a Prussian officer appeared with his face* streaming with 
blood. The doctor leaped out of the trench and began to 
dress the wound. He was promptly hit in the arm by two 
pieces of flying shrapnel. A look of injured innocence came 
over his face, and when he came to himself he began swear- 
ing with great unction. The German disappeared in the 
storm, but the medical officer refused to leave, and con- 
tinued ministering to the long stream of wounded and dying 
during the day. 

One of the stretcher-bearers was a young lad just out 
from Canada. It was his first battle. He was so short that 
one corner of the stretcher drooped, so a stalwart Heine 
was pressed into service, and the boy was instructed to 
plant a flag and act as guide to the bearers. At once the 
post became the most unhealthy spot in the area; shells 
dropped all around. The little chap quietly came close to 
the doctor and said, "Doc, I am going to stay near you, for 
I think I will need you ' ' — and he did ! 



386 CANADA AT WAR 

I hope that in the future the national paintings that are 
secured to commemorate this war will not omit its terrible 
side. There are many people who object to reality. But 
it would be an insult and desecration to those who have 
suffered and died if Canadian records do not show war as 
it is. Victories must be paid for, and although, compara- 
tively speaking, the Canadian casualties were few, they 
were enough. Thank God for the manhood of those boys 
who passed through on their way to hospital ! 

There was one, a man of twenty-nine, who had risen from 
the ranks to command a platoon. He was the life of the 
mess. Wherever the boys gathered in the evening his 
trained tenor voice led the song. To hear him lead the 
*' Miserere" chorus told you that he had a poet's soul. 
When all the officers of his company were casualties he car- 
ried on, and his cheery voice over the telephone reassured 
his commanding officer. He was hit while trying to reach 
a wounded comrade, and was carried out to die in a casualty 
clearing station. 

Another man, Dobson of Paisley, whose leg was shattered 
with a shell, completed the amputation with his own jack- 
knife, and dressed his own wound. He thought his other 
foot was gone, but when the doctor told him that it was 
only broken, he said, "I'm glad; that's Jake-a-loo." 

When the news began to crystallize it became certain that 
Canada again had not failed. In the following days the 
work was completed which had been so auspiciously begun. 
Before they rested, the Canadian Corps had pierced the 
Wotan line and looked down upon the Canal du Nord. 

Later in the opening day of the attack the four company 
officers gathered to tell their story. Three of them were 
seriously, but not dangerously wounded. They were full of 
praises for their men. One may pause here to pay a tribute 
to the private soldier in this and every war — the cheerful, 
fed-up, fighting buck private, whose character makes the 
dreams of the commanding officer come true. As a matter 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: AKKAS 387 

of sober fact, decorations can only be by decimation; for 
every one that is gazetted, ten are earned. 

Art May and his company were supposed to be in sup- 
port, but it is a theory of his that the best support is in 
front, and he reached his objective along with the others. 
He was on the point of capturing ''a little town" for extra 
measure when he was shot through the shoulder by a sniper. 
His helmet had the same tilt and his eye the same sparkle 
as before. The ''Grand Duke" was wounded early in the 
day, but he led his company to their resting place before he 
admitted it. Dean, cool and reliable, had not time to get 
wounded. He went over the top twice in the next three days. 

Everyone admitted that it had been ''B" Company's day. 
Mac came in minus a big toe, and looking twenty years 
older. He said that things had not been "very rosy" at 
times. He had arrived in his trench on schedule time. His 
first action was to take the sign post and send it to Head- 
quarters. A pigeon — another forethought — carried the 
good news to Division. But before Mac could settle down 
there was work to be done. His flank was unprotected, and 
three German machine-guns enfiladed the trench. "They 
were giving some trouble," he said, "until they stopped." 
On being asked why they stopped he admitted that he had 
to stop them, which was done as narrated earlier in this 
story. "Then there was the clearing of the trench on the 
flank." This was not done with shovels and a fatigue 
party. A sergeant and a signaller volunteered as No. 1 
and No. 2 bayonets. They went ahead and Mac followed 
with a haversack full of bombs, tossing around the corners, 
then following up No. 1 and No. 2 bayonets, "and helped 
the Heinies over the parapet right and left." 

The quartermaster and the transport officer have come 
into their own in this war. Perhaps there is no military 
department which has won such unanimous approval as the 
marvellous system which unfailingly supplies the trenches 
with the finest food of the allied world. During an advance 



388 CANADA AT WAR 

the daily journey of the transport train is an Odyssey of 
adventure. When the Hun retreats he shells the roads and 
water supply, and mines the paths if he has time, much 
in the same spirit as a small boy chased out of an orchard 
throws stones at the farmer over the fence. Young Bredin, 
the transport officer, came into the dug-out smiling to-night 
with mail only seventeen days from Canada. He detected 
two mines on the way up and serpentined his column 
through a harassing fire of shells. About 3 a. m. one of the 
ofi&cers, lying in his bunk, dreamed of having his name 
spelt out by the signaller at the wire. A moment later a 
pink slip was placed in his hand and he read : ** A boy — all 
well. ' * War has many aspects. 

One more story and I have done. There were some who 
did not reach the line and who did not come back. In a 
shell-hole on the battlefield they found one of the men of 
the battalion dead. Pinned to his tunic was the following 
letter, which had been written after he had been wounded : 

August 26th, Shell Hole 999. 
To whom it may concern: 

If you find this on my body, please write to the 
address on the back and tell them that I have stopped 
a south-bound German bullet, and you guess I have 
settled down. Be sure and write, for this is a dead sol- 
dier 's last wish. 
Write to 

Mrs. George A. Briggs, 

Gouverneur, N. Y., U. S. A. 
(Sgd.) E. E. Spearafce, Private. 

No comment is necessary. In the words of the Colonel, 
**They don't make them any better than that.'' 

About the "church over there," I have no wonderful 
testimony concerning a great outcry of the men for some- 
thing they have never wanted before. I do feel with all 
my soul that deep down in every man there is something 
that is crying for God, and the things that divide the 
Churches here all melt away in the great furnace. The 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: AERAS 389 

Y. M. C. A. carried on in co-operation with the Chaplains' 
Service. During the offensive one could get anything he 
wanted in any of the canteens, the Chaplains ' Service, Sal- 
vation Army, or Red Cross, and among the workers there 
was nothing but noble emulation in service. The ordinary 
man does know that a great deal of religious feeling has 
been behind the spirit of the gifts that have been sent from 
Canada overseas. 

Just before the battle of Arras there was a church ser- 
vice. The men did not have to wear their coats. It was 
a quiet place there, and there was not likely to be any shell- 
ing. It was quite voluntary, but a great many came there, 
the Colonel being among them. They sat around on the 
ground. The most popular hymn of aU was *'When I 
Survey the Wondrous Cross.'' Then we had a communion 
service, very informal. We used the tail-board of an ammu- 
nition wagon for a communion-table, and I told them it 
might be the last chance some of them would have and I 
would be very glad if any who wanted to would stay for 
communion. One hundred and thirty-seven remained. They 
knelt there on the ground and I walked up and down 
between the lines, and it was very hard to say the words 
sometimes, because there was a spirituality there that is 
not always to be found even in the cloistered cathedrals. 
God was surely there. 

In two days they buried over 500 men of our division 
over the whole field, and it was a wonderful thing to take 
part in that service, to see men standing there looking 
intently and joining in the short Committal. There was a 
feeling of immortality such as I had never known before. 
It seems that Heaven has been brought nearer to us than 
ever. We used to think of it as something for the sick and 
aged, but I think we realize now that it is the young and 
the strong who are there. The other world has been brought 
nearer to us and our hearts seem to go up to the great truth 
of the Resurrection which Jesus taught when He lived 
beside the Syrian sea. 



III. CAMBRAI 

And the Gates of Peakl 

" Those who with fame eternal their own dear land endowed 
Took on them as a mantle the shade of death's dark cloud; 
Yet dying thus they died not, on whom is glory shed 
By virtue which exalts them above all other dead." 

Sir J. Rennel Rodd's translation of Simonides' 
epitaph on the Platean dead at Marathon. 

The previous chapters describe two great battles — that 
of Amiens, which began on August 8th, and the Battle of 
Arras, which began on August 26th. On the first of Sep- 
tember the Hindenburg line was pierced, and then it was 
that the First and Second Divisions of Canadians, which 
had borne the foremost part in the first two battles, went 
from the line for a short rest, to be relieved by the Third 
and Fourth. It was fortunate that during the whole of the 
year the resources of Canada were so fully given to support 
the Corps at the front, because the work that was accom- 
plished could never have been done were it not for the fact 
that there were practically two Canadian Corps. In many 
a regiment and many a battle, thirty, forty and fifty per 
cent were casualties in a single day, and reinforcements 
would come so rapidly that in two days the battalion again 
would be in full strength. It is only right that those at 
home should know that much of the success that came to 
Canada last year was due to the stream of reserves in the 
months of August, September and October. 

This massive fortification of the Queant-Drocourt Switch, 
which had taken two years to build, with catacombs allow- 
ing men to pass safely along the front, was completely 
overrun and the Germans driven across the Canal du Nord. 
This canal was partly artificial and partly natural. It was 
in a deep gully leading to a swamp, and it was possible 
through a river system to flood the whole country, and the 

[390] 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: CAMBRAI 391 

Germans announced this was their intention. Early in 
September they were across the Canal du Nord and the 
Canadians were holding the dividing line. Two of the divi- 
sions were at rest for several days, and they went back to 
the villages beyond Arras, which were now comparatively 
quiet, and there had the luxury of a bath and a real sleep, 
with no work to do for three or four days. But they were 
all back again in the line in about two weeks from the time 
they left. It took five or six days to reach Wanquentin and 
four days to come back. 

Before the battle of Cambrai began, our division held the 
line for two weeks, because the next attack was to be opened 
by the Fourth Division. Once more I think I see the long 
line of observation balloons tethered to the ground. The 
men call them sausages ; monstrous things to behold, about 
2,000 feet above, with a cable connected to the ground and 
two men occupying them, who from morning until night are 
observing what can be seen in the enemy lines. There are 
twelve to fourteen of these in view, two miles apart, right 
along the line. The life of these observers is not an alto- 
gether happy one, for they are the target for high explosive 
artists from the other side, and it is a game of guess-work 
between the gunners and the balloon. Sometimes you might 
see an aeroplane diving from an innocent cloud and making 
a dash across the salient at the helpless thing. A rattle of 
tracer bullets and the bag would burst in flames, the 
men escaping in parachutes from the fire. One did not 
hear all of the truth as to certain military experiments. 
I have often thought that some of the stories told about the 
triumphant success of one side or the other hardly did jus- 
tice to the opposition. One day I saw eight observation 
balloons brought down, and this means that sixteen men had 
to jump for life. It is said that these were allowed two 
weeks leave in England. They certainly deserved it, and 
no one grudged it to them. 



39^ CANADA AT WAR 

I am quite certain that the true spiritual history of the 
tanks has yet to be written. At Amiens and Arras they 
did incalculable service, but at a cost which many of us feel 
quite positive has not reached the consciousness of the pub- 
lic. On the ridge of hills behind Cagnicourt I counted five 
within a mile just through the last fortifications of the Hin- 
denburg line. They were ** napoo." Like living things, the 
monsters had reached their objective and died in their 
tracks. The Germans had cunningly placed artillery to 
pierce them, while in every trench there were elephant guns 
with specially constructed bullets of chilled steel. 

When a tank was pierced, very often the whole crew were 
burned to death in an instant. There was one of those 
burned out tanks which will ever haunt the dreams of those 
who saw it. Inside, the figure of the driver, burned to a 
cinder, sat upright, the charred bones of the fingers still 
grasping the wheel. The steel helmet sat on the skull. The 
spiral of the puttees was still discernible on the legs. 
''Faithful unto death" might have been the title of the pic- 
ture. The men who manned the tanks last summer were the 
bravest of the brave. 

A sacred picture in that desolate land: A little way to 
the left of Cagnicourt there was a place known as Dominion 
Cemetery. It was my privilege to officiate there many 
times. There are rows upon rows of little wooden crosses 
there, and many funerals were held every day, even while 
we were holding the line. Those graves are well cared for, 
and will be looked after specially by the French authorities. 
The cemetery is marked out into plots, rows and numbers, 
so that all are identified. It is possible to know without the 
slightest doubt where any particular man is buried. The 
French Government will do all that their pride in and love 
for Canada will impel to make these sacred places in the 
land of France "a portion of a foreign soil that is forever 
England. ' ' There were no atheists by those shallow graves. 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: CAMBEAI 393 

The men, whatever they think of the Church, believe in God. 
They have seen hell and cannot doubt what heaven is. 

It may be interesting for you to know that even holding 
the line means something else besides rest. It means, for 
the men during active service conditions, cold food all the 
time. The food must be cooked six or seven miles behind 
the lines and sent up after that. The tea is boiled behind 
the lines and sent up cold in petrol tins. From the 6th of 
August until Cambrai there was not a blanket in the whole 
Canadian Corps. It is cold in northern France in October. 

There is nothing that hurt the men more than to see mis- 
guided references to their morals in the home papers. They 
themselves are so proud of Canada and their people at 
home that it seemed cruel to think that because they were 
over there their people could think that they were neces- 
sarily degenerating. To read some of the papers it would 
seem the men lived on rum. The only time they got it was 
just before going into action, and it was very little even 
then. By all means abolish rum, but before you do so 
abolish war. It is typical Anglo-Saxon hypocrisy to send 
boys to do the devil's work with a placid acceptance of all 
that the abnormal thing means and then become passion- 
ately zealous over an infinitely less important matter. Take 
men accustomed to comforts and send them into a lousy 
trench where it is cold and wet, put them under shell-fire, 
from which every human impulse recoils, for war is a 
beastly thing, — every human instinct cries, *'Go back!'' 
and only the spirit cries '^Go on!" Under these conditions 
let the reformer who undergoes a major operation without 
an anaesthetic throw the first stone. The men have been too 
busy and too hard worked to be touched by the dangers of 
drunkenness and some other things that caused anxiety at 
home. God bless the field comforts ! Many a woman knit- 
ting socks has not realized that her pair of socks would be 
carried up to the front line with two or three hundred other 
pairs to comfort the feet of men chilled to the marrow, 
26 



394 CANADA AT WAE 

because their socks were wet and saturated with clay. The 
gift itself brought the aroma of the fireside and reminded 
them of home. 

The battle of Cambrai was the Canadians' third show 
of the season. It was their most intense and fierce battle 
of the whole year, because it was the last real stand of the 
Germans. Things had become desperate with them. The 
hundred days will possibly be looked upon and noted by 
the historian of the future as one of the turning points of 
human history. The changed aspect of the World War had 
been not less than miraculous. It must be admitted that 
the sight from the hilltop of the plains of victory had 
revealed a new facet in the British character. To judge 
from the newspapers and from the reports of men returned 
from leave, it would almost seem that the average person 
at home had forgotten that even victorious war is an awful 
thing. During the dark days last Spring the English char- 
acter revealed itself at its highest and best. Never in the 
long story of our Island Empire was the coolness and ten- 
acity of purpose which the world knows to be our most 
characteristic virtue more searchingly tested and more 
splendidly proved. The long series of victories since the 
18th of July had brought back the golden age of Pitt's first 
administration, described by Horace Walpole, when men 
asked every morning what new victory was to be celebrated. 

Ever since we dug ourselves in near the Nord Canal, after 
rolling up the five strong trench systems between there and 
Neuville Vitasse in the series of great engagements which 
commenced on August 26th, the various staffs had been at 
work on their plans for the attack towards Cambrai. No 
detail was overlooked. It was known that the enemy 
intended to defend his position at all costs if possible. The 
task confronting our artillery was an extremely difficult 
one. The barrage had first to be laid along a narrow front- 
age, then to widen at every lift. The barrage map for the 
battle offers an interesting picture to anyone who knows 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: CAMBKAI 395 

anything about artillery work. Elaborate calculations in 
time and range had to be made for each gun, for each bat- 
tery, for each group, then for all as a whole. 

On the night of September 26th the engineers seemed to 
lose all sense of precaution, for they brought up pontoons 
along the Wancourt road, which were to be used to bridge 
the waters of the canal, and these were piled beyond the 
front line on the night before the attack began. A little 
show was put on with a great deal of noise north of the 
Scarpe for the purpose of attracting the attention of the 
enemy to that point of line, away from the destined scene of 
the big operation. In this it was entirely successful. 

That night of September 26th was one of uncanny quiet 
along the section of our front from which the storm was so 
soon to burst. 

At 5 :20 of the morning of September 27th, sharp on the 
minute, one of our eighteen-pounder guns barked twice. 
* ' Then the length and depth of our front broke into red and 
orange and violet flashes ; our whole line gave tongue in a 
crashing roar of innumerable explosions, all blending into 
one terrific tide of sound, wrenching the waiting earth and 
quiet air from peace to furious tumult in an instant of 
time. ' ' 

As the barrage lifted, our infantry crossed the swampy 
and low-lying ground between the jumping-off line and the 
Canal du Nord, which had been converted into a fortified 
stronghold. At the canal a stiff resistance was encoun- 
tered. Machine-gun fire poured from every point and angle 
of the ditch. But the Canadians pressed forward, the 
Fourth Division on the right, the First, accompanied by 
tanks, on the left. 

The Canadian artillery instituted many things in this 
war, and in this battle they reached a pitch of perfection 
they had never before realized. 

On October 1st the attack was continued, and the fighting 
was severe and stubborn all day. Counter-attack followed 



396 CANADA AT WAR 

counter-attack. That day the artillery of the Canadians 
alone cast 7,000 tons of shells on the enemy. Masses of 
grey were thrown against our ever-encroaching line with a 
pitiable disregard of the cost. Our advance was opposed 
without thought of the price. The Germans knew, if we did 
not, that this was their last hope. The Third Division, 
however, made headway to the plateau beyond Tilloy, 
got into Neuville St. Remy, and stayed there. The Fourth 
finished its work at Blecourt and also took Bantigny, and 
in both villages repulsed several particularly bitter counter- 
attacks. On the left the First Division entered Abancourt. 
At half -past one o'clock on the morning of October 9th, in 
utter darkness, the Canadians entered Cambrai. They took 
the garrison of the town by surprise, quickly obtained the 
upper hand in all the numerous instances of street encoun- 
ters and house-to-house fighting, reached and occupied the 
Place d'Armes, and from there spread throughout the 
entire area. By daylight they were clear of the south- 
eastern edge of the city and well along the Avenue de 
Valenciennes; in the south-west they were established at 
the Paris Gate. Eight in front of the Cathedral of St. 
Sepulchre there was a service held on the morning of that 
October day, when all kinds of men of all phases of Chris- 
tianity worshipped together in thanksgiving to God for this 
great victory. Units of our Third Division pressed due 
east to the line of the Scheldt Canal, secured all bridge- 
heads as far as Eswars, and captured several villages and 
hundreds of prisoners. By six a. m. our engineers had 
spanned the canal with a pontoon bridge. In the town 
itself several hundred prisoners were taken. British troops 
on the right won to the road leading to Le Cateau. These 
captures loom up as more significant when it is understood 
that against the Corps the enemy had hurled thirteen picked 
divisions, representing every available reserve he had, in 
his desperate and vain efforts to hold up our advance. He 
fought with unabated fury, but at the finish of the second 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: CAMBEAI 397 

round he found all of Ms thirteen divisions had met with 
the misfortune such a number might expect. Other parts 
of the front had been milked to supply the unlucky divi- 
sions, particularly the sectors north of the Scarpe. 

I would like to quote from the order of General Currie 
when Cambrai was captured : 

*'In two months the Canadian Corps has captured more 
than 28,000 prisoners, 501 guns, 3,000 machine-guns, 69 
towns and villages, 175 square miles of territory, and 
defeated decisively 47 German Divisions. Three battles 
have brought in these captures — Amiens, Arras, Cambrai. 
Three great battles have been fought and won by us in the 
short space of two months — three battles in which the 
difficulties to be overcome, the opposition to be broken, the 
ground to be taken, multiplied and grew continually. 

**Even of greater importance than these captures stands 
the fact that you have wrested sixty-nine towns and villages 
and over one hundred and seventy-five square miles of 
French soil from the defiling Hun. 

*'In the performance of these mdghty achievements all 
the arms and branches of the Corps have bent their pur- 
poseful energy working one for all and all for one. 

**The dash and magnificent bravery of our incomparable 
Infantry have at all times been devotedly seconded with 
great skill and daring by our machine-gunners, while the 
Artillery lent them their powerful and never failing sup- 
port. The initiative and resourcefulness displayed by the 
Engineers contributed materially to the depth and rapid- 
ity of our advances. The devotion of the Medical personnel 
has been, as always, worthy of every praise. The admin- 
istrative services, working at all times under very great 
pressure and adverse conditions, surpassed their usual 
efficiency. The Chaplain services by their continued devo- 
tion to the spiritual welfare of the troops and their utter 
disregard of personal risk have endeared themselves to the 
hearts of everyone. The incessant efforts of the Y. M. C. A. 



398 CANADA AT WAR 

and their initiative in bringing comforts right up to the 
front line, in battle, are warmly appreciated by all. 

*'The victories you have achieved are the fruit of the 
iron discipline you accepted freely and of the high standard 
you have reached in the technical knowledge of your arms 
and the combined tactical employment of all your resources. 

''You must therefore with relentless energy maintain and 
perfect the high standard of training you have reached, 
and guard with jealous pride your stern discipline. 

''Under the lasting protection of Divine Providence, 
united in a burning desire for the victory of right over 
might, unselfish in your aims, you are and shall remain a 
mighty force admired by all, feared and respected by foes. 

''I am proud of your deeds and I want to record here 
my heartfelt thanks for your generous efforts and my 
unbounded confidence in your ability to fight victoriously 
and crush the enemy wherever and whenever you meet 
him. ' ' 

More and more it became perfectly obvious that the hand 
of God had touched the enemy. It was the moral equation 
that settled the war. 

The fall of Cambrai had extraordinary consequences. 
The following is an extract from a correspondent: *'With 
the British Armies, Sunday, . I was in Bruges yes- 
terday morning a few hours after the Germans had left it, 
and fell into such a scene of ecstasy as outdid even Lille. 
But before touching on particular experiences or describing 
what has happened in Bruges, Ostend, Tourcoing, Eoubaix, 
Lille and Courtrai, I should wish to make everyone share 
our master emotion after talking with the liberated people. 
The blood and agony of British soldier prisoners and of 
French and Belgian women cry from the streets of all these 
towns.'' 

Mr. Moore, chaplain of Lille, who saw the Blackhole 
Prison with its shifting population of 800 prisoners, who 
was present day after day at progressive deaths of starved 



A STOEY OP FIVE CITIES: CAMBKAI 399 

and bullied men, who read the burial service over 200 
Englishmen who died of oppression, has fellow witnesses 
from Bohain, near Le Cateau, up to Ostend, among self- 
sacrificing men and women who suffered blows and impris- 
onment in endeavors to save them from starvation. 

Germans talked of reprisals for purely invented crimes. 
They shelled civilians in a village near Lille and fined 
others because a French ship had bombarded Alexandretta. 

Thej gave British soldiers no bite of food for three days 
because, they said, the Germans were kept in our trenches 
on the Somme. I have sworn testimony for all these things. 

If possible the treatment of French women was worse. 
From Lille, Tourcoing, Roubaix, where yesterday Clemen- 
ceau himself heard the tales, they snatched thousands of 
women away, choosing the middle of the night for the crime. 

One dying man was left quite alone, and many mothers 
had scarcely a fareAvell of their daughters, and for si^? 
months they heard no news. 

The first they heard was the return of their once inno- 
cent daughters, aged, dirty and worn after months of forced 
labor in barracks. Eoubaix and Tourcoing alone saw sup- 
plied 18,000 of these women slaves. To-day for thousands, 
for 400,000 in the cotton and wool district centered in the 
Lille district, for 26,000 who remain in Ostend, for the 
whole population of Bruges, 'Hhe golden age returns." 

I went into a convent of teaching sisters to see a friend. 
**Is it really four years," I asked, *' since you had news?" 
She answered: ''Four years and seven days." Not a 
whisper of the fate of nearest and dearest had reached 
them, nor had their letters gone. 

One bright morning I stood on the heights before Bour- 
lon Wood and looked upon the five spires of Cambrai. In 
the fifth century it was the capital of the Frankish kings. 
It saw the great Charlemagne, and was besieged by the 
Hungarians about a thousand years ago. It was the scene 
of the Ladies ' Peace, signed in 1528 by Margaret of Austria 



^00 CANADA AT WAR 

and Louise of Savoy. This was the home of the great 
Fenelon. "With its history, its gardens and its canals, 
almost the first sight of undilnted fresh water since landing 
in France, it would fascinate the Canadian at any time. 

But that day in the Autumn sunshine it seemed much 
more like Gustave Nadaud's Mystic City of Carcassone. 
It was the City of Dreams. For years the Canadian Corps 
had been living in a land of desolation, and for the last two 
months had been fighting its way through the scarred belt 
of France. At one spot a Canadian sign-post reads, ' ' This 
was Reincourt," and in countless other villages *'fuit" is 
the only appropriate name. 

One could almost imagine the possibility of the end of 
all civilization, and picture a race of new barbarians, living 
in the dugouts of dead armies, beginning again the weary 
story of the ascent of man. 

For the Allied Armies had arrived at the boundary of 
the abomination of desolation — beyond lay cornfields 
ploughed for next year's crops, which Germans will not 
reap. The gardens are full of vegetables for winter store, 
and the towns are comparatively undestroyed. Indeed, in 
the distance the red-tiled roofs seem to speak of a new 
experience. 

Cambrai was the gate, not only of a new country, but of a 
new era. 

The news during the last few days had been so wonderful 
that it may well have rejoiced those gallant spirits whose 
bodies sleep in their blanket shrouds. One could dream not 
only of a rehabilitated France and Belgium, but of human- 
ity healed of its wounds; a time of peace to come when 
*' Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither 
shall there be war any more." That fine idealism which 
burned like a meteor before us in the dark days must be 
with us to the end. 

Yes, civilization stands to-day at the Gates of Pearl. 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: CAMBRAI 401 

In the symbolism of the Orient, the home of the pearl 
banks, the pearl stands for tears. Canada has learned the 
lesson that the ideal future we all hoped for can only be 
reached by the gate of sacrifice. How splendid a pearl 
Canada has contributed to the gate of nations can best be 
estimated by those who have seen the gift so gladly made. 
We need not waste time to think of money and material — 
these things are nothing. 

The greatest discovery of my life has been the deep 
springing well of idealism in our young men. They do all 
that they can to hide it, but in times of drought it never 
runs dry. It is passing strange that it is youth, which has 
all to live for, that gives it royally away. 

Walter Ealeigh in his fine elegy on the death of Sir Philip 
Sidney says : 

" What hath he lost that such great grace hath won ? 
Young years for endless years, and hope unsure 
Of fortune's gifts for wealth that still shall dure. 
Oh, happy race, with so great praises run! " 

The typical Canadian does not like discipline, and yet 
the Canadian'Corps maintains a very high standard cheer- 
fully and with pride. 

The inner story of the private soldier has never been 
told. It is more than the danger and death which he faces 
with the officers who lead him. In proportion their casualty 
rate is at least as great as his. But his whole life is a 
religious pilgrimage, although he would be the last to admit 
it. It is the reproach of the churches that he cannot see 
the connection. 

My shoulders ache beneath my pack, 
( Lie easier, Cross, upon his back ) . 
I march with feet that burn and smart, 
(Tread, holy feet, upon my heart). 

Men shout to me who may not speak, 

(They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek). 

My rifle hand is stiff and numb, 

(From thy red palm red rivers come). 



402 CANADA AT WAE 

The new men who have come from Canada this year are 
cordially welcomed by their companions and have worthily 
carried on the traditions of their predecessors. Already 
many of them have given all that a man can give. 

There is a famous battalion, known in the Corps as the 
Van Dnsens, to which came a draft before a recent battle. 
One of the draft was rather lame and never could keep 
up with his platoon on the march. So in the trench his 
sergeant said to him: *'Bill, zero hour is at eight o'clock. 
You 're rather slow, so you had better go over at seven and 
we will catch up with you." The boy went and miracu- 
lously came through without a scratch. 

Canada's greatest asset is not her continent, her plains 
or her waterways, but her sons whose greatest desire 'is to 
finish this task for all time that their children may never 
have to pass through Moloch's furnace again. 

What do the war pictures teach us? A writer in the 
''Commonwealth" says: 

** After we have done with their skill, their humour, their 
beauty, their tragedy, what is the feeling we are left with 1 
The impression, I think, of the sheer and utter stupidity 
of war. The rows and rows of wounded men posing for 
the camera, the vast accumulation of paraphernalia, the 
endless series of bursting shells, the ruined churches, 
the waste and wreckage of fair and goodly things, all com- 
bine to display the monumental folly of the fact that has 
caused them. Nothing more. The incredible stupidity of 
the whole wild action is the dominant emotion with which 
we come away. And yet the odd thing is that there are 
people who lament the showing of the poor crumbled rem- 
nants of what were once free and living men. They lie 
there bleeding, broken, and devoured by flies after having 
been blasted to bits by some stray shell. Why withdraw 
them? Has not war got this bloody side? Is not killing, 
after all, the main end of war? Of course! Take these 
particular pictures away and the real business of war is 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: CAMBKAI 403 

wantonly hidden; it becomes then just a great and not 
unpleasing spectacle; we merely depart exclaiming, ''How 
wonderful, how cheerful the Tommies are!" No! Let 
these pictures of death in its most hideous and revolting 
forms remain if such exhibitions must be at all. They are 
the truth. All the others lie. And the more we gaze on 
their beastliness so much the more we cry, 'Never again'. 
The very obscenities of war will turn us into the ways of 
peace. ' ' 

There are some things which the Old World can teach the 
New, but there are other things which we can teach them, 
and one of these lessons is the danger of being hypnotized 
by the past. An old Frenchman sat in the ruins of his 
Cambrai home and when the news of Germany's first sur- 
render came, he refused to be elated, for two of his three 
sons were dead. He said to me: "Monsieur, you will 
never change the world. I fought in the War of 1870, and 
my grandfather was with Napoleon at Waterloo. His 
grandfather was at Oudenarde against Marlborough, and 
for three hundred years have the men folk of my family 
been killed in battle. The Boche will come again, not in 
my time, but later. It is inevitable — if not the Boche, 
someone else." 

It is that spirit of the haunted house against which we 
must fight as the plague. 

It would be black treachery against the memory of those 
who have died in faith should we not be content with any- 
thing less than a world where the spirit of Christ shall 
reign over the nations. 



IV. VALENCIENNES 

And the Promised Land 

" Now I saw in my dream that by this time the pilgrims were 
got over the Enchanted Ground and entering into the country of 
Beulah, whose air was very sweet and pleasant; the way lying 
directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season. 
Here they heard continually the singing of birds, and saw every 
day the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice of the 
turtle in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and 
day; wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shadow of 
Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair, neither 
could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here 
they were within sight of the city they were going to. Here they 
had no want of corn and wine; for in this place they met with 
abundance of what they had sought for in all their pilgrimage." 
— The Pilgrim's Progress. 

Life is a pilgrimage, and every undertaking from its con- 
ception to its triumphant conclusion must necessarily fol- 
low the processes by which men accomplish great things. 
The work of the allied armies during the last four years 
was also a progression. There was a crossing of the Ked 
Sea at the beginning of the war. There was the wandering 
for many months through the wilderness, and at last, after 
the eyes of humanity were tired with watching, the Prom- 
ised Land came in view, just as it did for Christian when 
he came to the land of Beulah, which was just on the out- 
skirts of the city of his dreams. The lessons of history are 
taught in the strangest and yet most timely ways. Last 
summer, when they were digging a gun pit in northern 
France, a Canadian soldier dug up an earthen pot which 
was filled with copper coins. There were 350 altogether, 
and they were just as perfect as when they were placed in 
the ground 1,600 years ago. The proud patrician faces of 
Vespasian and Hadrian seemed extraordinarily modern. 
Probably the coins were buried by some thrifty colonist 
who had to leave his home in a hurry when the barbarians 

[404] 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: VALENCIENNES 405 

were sweeping into the outer reaches of the decadent 
Roman Empire. He never came back. 

This is the country where Caesar made his reputation. 
His memorable introduction to his Gallic Wars, concern- 
ing Gaul being divided into three parts, which has been 
memorized painfully by generations of English school- 
boys, still holds strangely true. There is the great 
southern and central part of France, unconquered and 
unconquerable, where the spirit of Joan of Arc has been 
reborn. For four years it has been the Holy Land of 
Humanity in its fight for the freedom of the world. 
Secondly, there is the battle zone where desolation reigns, 
where the whole land is pockmarked with shell-holes, where 
villages are dust heaps and cities piles of stone, where 
the soul of Verdun stands sentinel over the countless 
thousands who sleep in the man-made wilderness in sure 
and certain hope of victory's promised land. There is a 
third part of France, which had been hidden behind the 
veil since August, 1914, and to this may be added the lost 
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. The first thing that 
strikes one concerning this territory, into which the Cana- 
dian Corps was about to enter, and concerning which this 
chapter will be devoted, is the enormous importance of the 
district to the future life of France. Imagine, if possible, 
an invading army in possession of Lancashire and of the 
coal mines of South Wales, and you will have some concep- 
tion of the economic dislocation which France would have 
suffered if the Teuton plan had not miscarried. Lille is 
the Manchester of France, her most prosperous manufac- 
turing city, while everywhere between Douai and Valen- 
ciennes can be seen the pyramids which tell of the rich coal 
mines, all of which were in German hands. It is not for 
nothing that the Germans clung to Lens with desperation 
and flooded the mines when they left, making them useless 
for three years at least. It is well known that the Briey- 
Longwy Mines have produced 90 per cent of the high-grade 
steel used by Krupp and taken from the French Province of 



406 CANADA AT WAK 

Lorraine. The towns and villages in this district seemed 
much more pretentious than those in the South, the homes 
are obviously those of people who had made money in 
commerce. 

Valenciennes is the queen city of this district, situated 
on the Eiver Scheldt, not far from the Belgian border. It 
is one of the oldest cities in France, having been founded by 
the Eoman Emperor Valentinian. In the Middle Ages it 
was part of the patrimony of the Counts of Hainault; at 
one time it was the centre of the Protestant power in north- 
ern France, and was the scene of one of Conde 's character- 
istic victories. The average Canadian knew the city before 
the war from its association with the beautiful lace which 
used to be made there, but this industry has been dwarfed 
in modern years by the coal and iron manufacturing inter- 
ests of the plain. Across the canal are the coal-fields of 
Anzin. It is a city of 30,000 people, and like most of these 
northern cities, from having been independent centuries 
ago, has some of the qualities of a capital city. The church 
of Notre Dame du Cordon is a fine building, also the thir- 
teenth century church of St. Gery. The whole city is sur- 
rounded by a network of canals, which were used to the 
utmost by the Germans to impede the advance of the allies 
in the last week of October. After the fall of Cambrai it 
was known that the Germans would make their next stand 
at Valenciennes. 

On October 11, just after the fall of Cambrai, the battle 
of Iway was fought by the Second Division, and it com- 
pleted the victory. This fight was one of the bitterest in 
the history of the Second Division. For the first time this 
summer the Canadians had the opportunity of knowing 
how the Germans must have felt when our tanks went 
over their trenches, for the enemy made a most determined 
attempt to use tanks as we had done. There is no doubt 
that the moral effect of these land dreadnoughts is very 
great, but our men stood the test splendidly and the tanks 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: VALENCIENNES 407 

were either captured or retired. In our own battalion 
there were 300 casualties on that morning, and on the 
ground just outside the regimental aid-post there were 
dozens of dead and wounded lying. Captain Howard Black, 
of Toronto, our medieal officer, did splendid work under 
great difficulties in caring for the wounded under shell-fire. 
I had not the privilege of being with the battalion that 
morning, but coming up to Eswars, a suburb of Cambrai, 
I found them all lying asleep in the cellars of the ruins. 
The whole division was asleep, and never before, I think, 
had I realized the terrific strain under which men in action 
labor. They had had no sleep for three nights, were 
unwashed and unkempt. Boys of twenty looked like men 
of forty, and men of forty seemed to have shrivelled into 
old age. They slept almost like the dead for twenty-four 
hours. 

Just afterward, one evening at Sailly, a group of men 
were standing around battalion headquarters, looking at 
the printed notices, when I noticed a murmur of unusual 
interest. It was Germany's reply accepting President 
Wilson's fourteen points. It was a moment that many 
had talked of and dreamed about. It was perfectly certain 
that Germany must be on the verge of collapse, though 
even then no one realized that there would be but three 
weeks more of fighting; but the effect of the news upon 
the men was very strange. There was no excitement. 
They looked at each other and hardly said a word. The 
poor fellows hardly liked to say what they thought. Many 
a man who had come through months of fighting went 
silently away looking weak and tired. 

Almost at once after advancing from Cambrai, the flow- 
ing tide reached Le Cateau, where General Smith-Dorrien 
fought such a splendid defensive battle in 1914. The first 
British troops to enter the town were patrols of the Fort 
Garry Horse, who were overwhelmed by the embraces of 
the rescued inhabitants. In the large town of Denain there 



408 CANADA AT WAR 

were over 20,000 civilians, who welcomed the Canadians 
with transports of enthusiasm. Hardly had the Germans 
left the town when allied flags were produced from nowhere, 
marvelous imitations of the Union Jack fashioned out of 
petticoats were flying everywhere, while the whole popula- 
tion seemed delirious with joy. I had the opportunity of 
talking with the cure, a wonderful old man, who spoke 
with much animation of his experiences during the years 
of occupation. He said: "Monsieur, the worst effect of 
the invasion has been the moral one. After the first flood, 
when they settled down, the Boches did not commit any 
atrocity, but they have perverted a great many foolish girls 
in the town. There are always those who are weak, and 
for a long time to come we shall suffer from their influ- 
ence." He said also: "What most impressed me con- 
cerning Germans was the cruelty of the officers towards 
their own men. Many a time I have seen a staff car stop 
when some passing private soldier failed to salute through 
inattention. I have seen an officer brutally slash the man 
across the face with his riding-crop or knock him down 
with the butt of his revolver. No, Monsieur, I do not love 
the Boche." 

In that extraordinary book written by Freytag von 
Loringhoven, the philosopher of the German General Staff, 
last year, the most striking feature was the conception of 
human life which evidently possessed the military leaders 
of Berlin. Looking back on the lessons of three and a 
half years of war, he expresses the desire that the Father- 
land should breed more and more children as potential 
soldiers. He looked upon men and women in the mass as 
a Canadian lumberman would regard a fine forest of white 
pine, something to be cut down, trimmed of bark and 
branches and put through the sawmill. 

It was the deliberate conviction of Canadians that the 
sight of the undestroyed and occupied cities of Northern 
France was even more eloquent of German barbarism 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: VALENCIENNES 409 

than the vast desolation between Arras and Cambrai. 
Where fighting actually went on, it seemed inevitable that 
there should be destruction, but the destruction of the 
fairest buildings bears no comparison to the bending and 
breaking of the human spirit. Shall we ever forget the 
pinched, yellow faces of the women, and their dark, hollow 
eyes looking from the doorways as the battalions entered 
the town, or the hysterical demonstration which spoke too 
clearly of a new hope in a heart that was burned out. The 
little children, half nourished and some obviously of Teuton 
parentage, the old men, hopeless and bowed (there were no 
young men left — many of them were slaves in the interior 
of Germany) — it helped to make Canadians understand 
what it would mean to live in a German world. I hold in 
my hand a typical proclamation scraped from a notice 
board in the town of Tournai. It was one of dozens to 
be found in every occupied town, printed in German and 
in French. The lives of the people were obviously meas- 
ured out for them with minutest care. Imagine how Cana- 
dians would like to read of their next-door neighbors being 
shot for trying to correspond with relatives from whom 
they had been separated for four years. On inquiry we 
found that these victims, who were living in a city where 
their parents had lived before them, had only endeavored 
to communicate with their loved ones. This is the French 
version : 

CONDAMNATION 

ExEcuTioisr Capitals, 

Par^ judgement du tribunal de guerre a Tournai le 29 aout, 
1917, ont ete condamnes pour Tespionage par des pigeons 
voyageurs : 

1. Georges Eemy, 

Frangaise, Journalier, ne le 2 aout, 1887, a Genech, habi- 
tant a Ouvignies. 

2. Floee Lafrance, nee Lacroix, 

Fran§aise, nee le 11 avril, 1886, a Waurelos, habitante a 

Ouvignies. 

27 



410 CANADA AT WAR 

3. Geokgine Bossuyt, nee Dai^iel, 

Fran§aise, nee le 15 Janvier, 1883, a Nomain, habitante a 
Nomain. 

4. Henri Gaige^et, 

Frangaise, f ermier et marchand de charbons, ne le 2 Mai, 
1866, a Lesquis, habitant a Delmez. 

A LA Peine de Mort, 

Le peine de mort a ete executee. Les condamnes ont ete 
fusilles. 

On fait connaitre ceci a la population comme avertisee- 
ment. November, 1917. 

Probably in the legends of the Canadian Corps the ten 
days' rest at Anberchicourt will be idealized as the first 
taste of the Promised Land. Coming after the first battle 
which marked the final phase of the fall of Cambrai, the 
contrast was almost overwhelming. For three years the 
Canadian Corps had taken its full share of the hardships 
incidental to the campaign, gradually increasing in inten- 
sity. From the trenches of the Ypres salient to the mud of 
Passchendaele, from the bombs of Amiens to the desolation 
of the Arras region, had been progression from one form 
of discomfort to another. The high command must have 
had confidence in the ability of the Canadians to resist heart 
failure, or there would have been a judicious period of 
transition. 

Towards the end of October the Second Canadian Divi- 
sion took possession of the town of Anberchicourt. The 
suburb of Aniche, being the *'Belgravia" of the city, was 
occupied by the Twenty-first Canadian Battalion. It was in 
peace time a prosperous mining center, the home of many 
well-to-do citizens of the commercial class. The Germans 
had driven out the inhabitants, and we had the place to 
ourselves. Such billets had never been known in the his- 
tory of the most imaginative " Fif ty-niners. " Spring beds 
for all the troops, marble clocks on every mantelpiece, coal 
in every cellar, and a back garden with the "leeks and 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: VALENCIENNES 411 

cucumbers of Egypt." One company officer refused a 
billet because the piano was out of tune. 

The latent domestic talents of many unsuspected artists 
were displayed in the decoration of the living-rooms of the 
houses. House furnishing was less expensive than the 
Canadian instalment plan, concerning which some innocent 
bachelors have already been consulting their married com- 
rades. This was especially noticeable when a Canadian 
casualty clearing station arrived in the town and the nurses 
appeared in the streets. The M.O. pretended that he knew 
them and immediately carried out a masterly offensive with 
complete success. For some reason, which no one else could 
understand, the Q.M. was called in to convoy the prisoners. 
The men lined the streets on either side as the procession 
passed up the "B" mess for afternoon tea. 

That night a most excellent H.Q. officer, apropos of 
nothing at all, asked whether in peace time two could live 
as cheaply as one. 

A brigade service under the command of Colonel Millen, 
D.s.o., of Hamilton, acting brigadier, was held on the 27th. 
The preacher spoke of St. John's vision of a new heaven 
and a new earth and said that the gates of pearl were the 
gates of sacrifice. The new world which was even then 
opening before us had been reached through the death of 
those who had died four years before. He mentioned the 
fact that the Canadian Corps was advancing along the 
historic line of the Mons retreat. Their voices seemed to 
cheer us from their resting-place. 

Valenciennes fell after a bitter struggle in which every 
bridgehead of the canal was destroyed and every road 
mined by the retreating enemy. The outside world hardly 
noticed the victory, for the rush of world events began to 
crowd the stage as the drama came to a close. But never 
did men more sorely miss their fellows than the Canadians 
their comrades who were sacrificed when the victory was 
in sight. It seemed so hard that they should have to die 



412 CANADA AT WAR 

like another great leader on Mount Horeb who saw the 
land he should never tread. Never did the memory of the 
trenches seem so dreadful or the prospect of a winter cam- 
paign so distasteful as after that idyllic interlude before 
Valenciennes. As a sample of peace it was excellent. For 
the first time in over a year the men could sleep at night 
without the terror of the bird of death. The German aero- 
dromes were being captured, and they were being made to 
regret having initiated the bombing of defenseless towns. 
But there is many a Canadian who will never look upon a 
full moon upon a quiet night without a shudder of recollec- 
tion. As one who generally had some kind of a dugout at 
night, when the boys in the front line lay shivering in their 
great-coats, hostile aeroplanes droning the livelong night, 
I often used to think of the futility of it all. It sometimes 
seemed as if it was the old men of the world with their 
ambitions and cold calculations who had been the makers 
of wars which the young men fought for them. From the 
days when the Eoman Senate sent its ultimatum to Car- 
thage until Austria sent a similar message to Serbia, how 
many homes have been made desolate because men in the 
mass will not act as they have learned to do as individuals ? 
Will anything ever end war? *' Science," says Dr. 
Charles E. Jefferson in his book, ''What the War is Teach- 
ing" — "Science cannot kill war, for science has not the 
new heart, and only whets the sword to a keener edge. 
Commerce cannot kill war, for commerce, too, lacks the 
new heart, and only lifts the hunger of covetousness to a 
higher pitch. * Progress cannot kill war, for progress in 
wrong directions leads into bottomless quagmires in which 
we are swallowed up. Law cannot kill war, for war is but 
a willow withe tied round the arms of humanity, and human 
nature when aroused snaps all the withes asunder and 
carries off the gates of Gaza. Education cannot end war. 
And if by education you mean but the sharpening of the 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: VALENCIENNES 413 

intellect, education may only fit men to become tenfold more 
masterful in the awful art of slaughter. 

''What then wiU end war! 

"The world has had three historic scourges — famine, 
pestilence and war. Each one nimabers its victims by the 
tens of millions. 

' ' Commerce killed famine. By her railroads and steam- 
ships she killed it. It lies like a dead snake by the side of 
the road along which humanity has marched to the present 
day. Science killed pestilence. The black plague, the 
bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, all have 
received their death-blow. Science did the work. These 
foes of humanity lie bleeding and half dead by the side of 
the road along which the world presses up to a higher day. 

''Who will kill war? Not science, and not commerce, and 
not both of them together. Only religion can kiU war, for 
religion creates the new heart in man." 

" What did you see out there, my lad, 
That has set that look in your eyes? 
You went out a boy, you have come back a man, 
With strange new depths underneath your tan. 

" What was it you saw out there, my lad, 
That set such depths in your eyes ? " 

" Strange things — and sad — and wonderful. 
Things that I scarce can tell — 
I have been in the sweep of the Reaper's scythe, — 
With God, — and Christ, — and hell. 

"I have seen Christ doing Christly deeds; 
I have seen the Devil at play; 
I have grimped to the sod in the hand of God; 
I have seen the Godless pray. 

" I have seen Death blast out suddenly 
From a clear blue summer sky; 
I have slain like Cain with a blazing brain, 
I have heard the wounded cry. 

" I have lain alone among the dead, 
With no hope but to die; 
I have seen them killing the wounded ones, 
I have seen them crucify. 



414 CANADA AT WAR 

" I have seen the Devil in petticoats 
Wiling the souls of men; 
I have seen great sinners do great deeds, 
And turn to their sins again. 

"I have sped through hells of fiery hail, 
With fell red-fury shod; 
I have heard the whisper of a voice, 
I have looked in the face of God." 



V. MONS, 

And the Maech to the Rhine 

" We lie like castaways upon the shore, 

Whose lives were lost in the Great Ketreat, 
< But where the wave hath ebbed the flood shall roar. 
And we await the tide's returning feet." 

We are coming almost to the close of the most wonderful 
hundred days in the history of the world. This may be 
said advisedly, remembering that the term *' hundred days" 
has for one hundred years been associated with the cele- 
brated return of Napoleon from Elba until his judgment 
at Waterloo, but I am quite sure that when history esti- 
mates the situation in Europe at the beginning of the last 
act — how that the German power seemed to be far from 
having spent its force and that the German armies were at 
Chateau Thierry and there was only a living barrier — 
when one considers the plans for the evacuation of the 
Channel ports or the surrender of Paris, which were seri- 
ously considered in July by the Great Allied Command, and 
that after three little months the end was in sight, one may 
say without hesitation that in future the final act of the 
drama, before the curtain was rung down on the scene 
forever, will live in history as "The Hundred Days.'* 

Let us return in memory to August, 1914, because we 
are already drawing near to the gates of Mons. The Bel- 
froi can be seen in the distance, and from an aeroplane the 
statue of Baudoin of Constantinople can be clearly dis- 
cerned swathed in sandbags in the Placede Plandres, and 
we can remember it was at Mons four years before that 
the Briton and Teuton first looked into each other's eyes. 

In the year 1914 the unpreparedness of the British 
Empire was a matter of knowledge to all the foreign offices 
of Europe. I am one of those who rejoice that it was so, 

[415] 



416 CANADA AT WAR 

for when history begins to estimate the responsibility for 
the Great War, that England was unprepared will be her 
justification before the bar of history; and, speaking of 
armies, just before the war the English army was almost a 
negligible thing. 

Those ''Old Contemptibles " who saved Europe at the 
beginning of the War, forming the army of the whole Brit- 
ish Empire, were less in strength than the Canadian Corps 
at the end of the War — only four divisions with their 
artillery under the command of Sir John French — but it 
was the finest army that ever crossed the sea (we never 
appreciated our professional soldiers). The English pri- 
vate was despised socially, refused entrance into hotels and 
lodging-houses, treated in dining-rooms as if he was a moral 
leper. You remember the words of Kipling: 

" It is Tommy this and Tommy that, 

And Tommy, how's your soul? 

But it's the thin red line of heroes 

When the guns begin to roll." 

It was the thin red line of heroes all right in August, 
1914, for they lay down in their tracks and died each man 
in his shallow pit. They were practically annihilated, but 
they saved the future of the world. It was a wonderful 
little army that was poured through the canvas tunnels at 
Southampton in the transports to stop the breach in the 
dyke of civilization. They left on a bank holiday, unnoticed 
amid the crowds. They never came back to England again, 
but their spirit will live forever in the anthology of the 
Anglo-Saxon race. They did not have any machine-guns, 
but every man was a trained rifleman. The old fifteen 
rounds a minute was a deadly weapon. The enemy came 
in swarms like locusts in the days of Pharaoh, equipped for 
battle and the conquest of war. Machine-guns were as 
plentiful with them as they were with the Allies in 1917, 
but these "Old Contemptibles" faced them, retreating 
steadily, looking dourly over their shoulders. As the col- 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 417 

umn flowed on the screen of grey which covered the German 
machine-guns was wiped out time after time. 

It was a splendid Sunday afternoon on the 23rd day of 
August, 1914, just outside of Mons, and the British Tom- 
mies were sitting watching the people coming home from 
church. They were bathing in the canal when the guns 
opened. Columns began to debouch from behind the woods. 
At half -past three they came in thousands, and the struggle 
between the Anglo-Saxon and German, representing two 
types of civilization, began. It was a fight to the death, 
only to be settled after five years of mortal strife. The 
Germans were absolutely confident that the world was at 
their feet. They were simply electrified with the thought 
of world glory. Just before this they had captured Liege, 
where Belgium made its immortal stand, but the forts were 
at last pulverized under those 14-inch howitzers; then the 
forts of Namur were taken in a stride, two sets of them 
in front of the Meuse, the mediseval breastworks 200 feet 
high over the embankment, looked upon as absolutely 
impregnable forty years ago ; then those white mushrooms 
of concrete lying low on green banks, the very last thing 
that engineering could devise. But this War has shown 
that the only thing that resists man is man himself; it 
was only by the spirit of man that the Frankenstein was 
destroyed. 

The Germans were so sure of entering Paris that every- 
one took a pair of white gloves in his haversack. They 
intended to go through, and therefore it was demonstrated 
afterwards that the unspeakable atrocities of the first few 
days in Belgium were not the result of drunkenness and 
debauchery. It was the cool determination of the High 
Command, who wanted to destroy the soul and resistance of 
a people. It has been the most conspicuous failure of the 
German man, his incapacity to understand what other men 
think, but in that 1914 drive through Belgium they certainly 
attempted great things. They marched twenty kilometres 



418 CANADA AT WAS 

a day, and the British Army to the left of the allied line 
gave back, but held them all the way, at Le Catean, St. 
Qnentin, Compiegne, and at last, by the 6th of September, 
the little British Army, or what was left of it, had crossed 
the Marne. Already Calais and Boulogne were practically 
evacuated and a patrol of Germans could have entered at 
that time. The men marched in their sleep, hour after 
hour. The only rest they had from fighting was when they 
marched, but they saved humanity. 

There came a day in September when Von Kluck was at 
the gates of Paris. Only by the mercy of God were the 
British saved at that time — by some perverted counsel the 
tide swerved to the southeast. 

There was delay of twenty-four hours and that delay 
saved the history of the world. The battle of the Marne 
began and the German armies were driven back to the 
Aisne. 

The Canadian Corps in 1918 was advancing along the 
Mons road and the forces of the men that lay buried seemed 
to say to us : 

" But where the wave hath ebbed the flood shall roar, 
And we await the tide's returning feet." 

Who could have seen four years before that the tide would 
come from the lakes and rivers of the New World. 

Four years have gone and the Little, contemptible British 
Army has grown to be the greatest of all the armies of the 
Allies. Eight million men have been raised and the great 
majority offered themselves freely before universal man- 
service was adopted by the Empire. It had been a wonder- 
ful mingling of tragedy and glory during those years. The 
blaze of Anzac was already history. The romance of Meso- 
potamia, with the names of Ctesiphon, Kut and Bagdad, 
were now things of the past. Bulgaria had surrendered, 
and the march to Nish competed in public interest with the 
exploits of AUenby and his Crusaders. The mind was carried 
back seven hundred years to the legend of Eichard the Lion- 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 419 

hearted to find some parallel to the news of the deliverance 
of Palestine and the picture of British cavalry watering 
their horses in the Abana. Austria, after a chequered his- 
tory of more than a thousand years, was disappearing from 
the map of the world, having been, in spite of the legend 
of the Holy Roman Empire, consistently the enemy of 
human progress. It was a week that men will point to in 
future ages as one of the mountain-peaks in the story of 
mankind. 

The movement upon the world stage was obscuring the 
actors, but in Belgium the British Army, trying to forget 
the distractions of this hour of destiny, was engaged in a 
specific task. This happened in the early days of Novem- 
ber, 1918, when the Canadian Corps was marching out of 
Valenciennes on their march to Mons. There were many 
who looked upon it as a marvellous thing that we should 
have lived to see these days. Of the realization of the 
dream for which Britain drew the sword one may truly 
say : * ' Others have labored, and ye have entered into their 
labors." 

The Belgians of the Province of Hainault are Celtic in 
temperament and intensely Gallic in their sympathies. It 
was a revelation to those who judged Belgium by their 
experience in Flanders. It is fortunate that it was the 
lot of the Canadian Corps to enter into the eastern part of 
Belgium. I am sure everyone must have been struck, in 
the early days of the war, by the fact that the returned 
soldiers did not seem to have the conception the civilized 
world had of the Belgians around the Ypres salient. 
A great proportion of these were of Flemish origin and 
friendly to our enemy, so it was a great revelation to our 
Canadians when they entered Belgium from Valenciennes 
to find that they were in a French country. The people 
were tremulous with joy. The men seemed to be marching 
under divine impulse and in their sleep. The bands played 
while the Germans were shelling as hard as they could. 



420 CANADA AT WAR 

The Canadians entered town after town as the Germans 
were going out at the other end of the town. The villages 
were en fete; French and Belgian flags which had been 
buried for years hung everywhere. Marvellous imitations 
of the Union Jack, obviously improvised from available 
material, testified to the genuineness of the welcome. 
Chrysanthemums and asters, with an amazing profusion of 
autunrn flowers, were literally showered upon all ranks. 
The joy of the people was a wonderful thing to behold, and 
the excitement can only be explained by the fact that many 
of them had just issued from the cellars from which they 
had been under shell-fire from the retreating enemy. At 
Jemappes, where the battalion advanced fifteen kilometres 
in a single day, the people seemed extraordinarily glad to 
see the Canadians. There was an obvious sincerity in it all. 
Men, women and children, emerging from the cellars where 
they had been for thirty-six hours, danced like Bacchantes 
in a delirium of delight. The symbol of the Walloon Cock 
crowing its head off, which was placarded everywhere, 
truly expressed the national psychology. The pipe band 
produced an indescribable effect upon the populace. Too 
late it was discovered that a potent weapon had been only 
partially utilized during the early months of the war. The 
girls first tried to waltz to the strains of the *'Cock of the 
North," but they felt themselves that they were not doing 
justice to the music. At last an old woman appeared on a 
window-sill and spontaneously dissolved into a Highland 
Fling. Like Tam O'Shanter's witch, ''a souple jade she 
was and Strang." From that moment the censorship was 
removed. 

"In the midst of life we are in death." At the house 
where we stayed we felt we were scarcely welcome. There 
was a certain reserve, though nothing was said. At last 
the proprietor came in and explained: *'I am very sorry 
we do not seem to rejoice, but only last night my little girl 
was struck with a German bomb and is now lying in the 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 421 

next room.*' There she was, a child with golden hair, the 
little body almost blown to pieces. Shall we ever forget 
the revelation of what the good civilians had endured 
during the past days? This fact stood out back of all the 
exuberance and gaiety. 

Beneath the unique experience of these days which 
marked the apotheosis of the 21st Canadian Battalion in 
France everyone saw the genuine gratitude of a nation 
delivered from slavery. It was pleasant, even if slightly 
undeserved, to hear Canadians hailed as the "liberators of 
Belgium," and many a man wished that some good comrade 
who had died in hope in dark hours could have been by his 
side that day. 

The brass bands came into their own in those days. The 
bands were the soul of the Canadian Corps during their 
march to the Rhine. A great many battalions had pipe- 
bands, and the people seemed to go mad when these started 
to play, as it seemed to be the crystallization of the spirit 
of the British. The troops moved into Noirchain, after 
advancing 15,000 yards on November 10th. It was known 
that the German envoys had crossed the frontier, but 
even then no one quite realized that the end had come. In 
its relationship to the individual it was inevitable that the 
end of a world war should seem like an anti-climax in the 
field. There is a sublime simplicity in the following mes- 
sage which arrived at Battalion Headquarters at 08.40 
hours: ''Hostilities cease at 11.00 hours Nov. 11th. Stand 
fast on line reached at that hour. ' ' 

The answer was : ' ' Warning order re cessation of hos- 
tilities received. Thanks. ' ' That was all. 

The advance of the battalion on the last day was the 
longest ever made from the front line, being nearly four- 
teen thousand yards. When the order concerning the 
armistice had been communicated to the various companies, 
the bands paraded through the town and there was general 
cheering, but upon looking back back upon the day every- 



432 CANADA AT WAK 

one remarked upon its comparative quietness. The transi- 
tion from war to peace is as great as from peace to war. 
As it was impossible, on the fateful 4th of August, 1914, 
to understand the full meaning of the years which would 
follow, so the soldier, who had so long through hope 
deferred confined himself to the task in hand, could not at 
once realize that the end had come. 

Again, many of the older men were thinking of the early 
days and of the good fellows who sleep in ' ' Flanders ' fields. ' ' 
One thing the men used to talk about was what would 
happen when the end came. You would hear them behind 
the lines speaking of the wonderful celebration they would 
have, how they would cut loose and celebrate without sleep- 
ing for two or three days. Yet to the whole line the end 
of the war came as an ante-climax. The men on that morn- 
ing seemed too dazed to understand. There were men 
killed at the last moment. There were men who tried to 
cheer at 11 o'clock, but they seemed ashamed of their own 
voices. The band played, but not nearly so enthusiastically 
as on mess night. It was too much to expect that an ordi- 
nary being could realize it all at once. The quietest day of 
the last year in France and Belgium was the day of the 
cessation of hostilities. Yet there were some wonderful 
things happened that day. Just the night before the Cana- 
dian Corps was gathering around Mons, where the Germans 
and British had confronted each other in 1914, and on the 
morning of November 11th the Canadians entered the city. 
The last message of Sir Douglas Haig before hostilities 
ceased was: "The Canadians of the First Army (General 
Home) captured Mons shortly before dawn this morning." 
In 1914 the last soldiers to leave Mons, looking over their 
shoulders at the enemy, were the 42nd Black Watch of 
Scotland. The first to enter Mons were the 42nd High- 
landers of Montreal and the Princess Patricias of the Third 
Division. 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 423 

There was an extraordinary reaction around Mons itself. 
The people were glad to see the Canadians. I picked up a 
hand-bill which was sent throughout Belgium, which was 
a caricature of the formal funeral notices which the French 
so dearly love: 

he General FOCH et ses enfa/nts : France, Angleterre, Amerique, Japon, Chine, 
Belgique, etc. Le General von HINDENBURG et ses enfants: Allemagne, 
Autriche, Turquie et Bulgarie; Monsieur et Madame CAN0N-0BU8IEVR 
et leurs enfants: Mitrailleuse, Fusil, Bayonette, Lance-mine, Lo/nce-iomie, 
Grenade, Gaz-Asphyxiant ; 

Monsieur TANK et son fils Auto-Blinde; 

Monsieur et Madame AER0PLANE-S0U8MARIN et leurs enfants; Explosif 
et Torpillej 

Monsieur FRONT et ses filles Etapes; 

Monsieur CONTROLE et ses enfants, Carte d'identite, Censure Requisition; 
Messieu/rs Artillerie, Infwnterie, Cavalerie, Genie, Gardescivique de tous 
grades et de tous pays; 

Les families: Mortalite, Misere, Maladie, Devastation, ont le grand plaisir 
de vous informer de la parte tant attendue qu'ils viennent de subir en la 
personne de 

MADAME LA GUERRE 

Presidente de la Societe La Famine, 

Decoree de la medaille mortuaire de premiere classe 

Fondatrice de la Quadruple Entente et des Puissances Centrales Fondatrice 

de la Societe Cooperative Les Accapa/reu/rs Reunis et Les Fermiers Enrichis. 

Secretaire du Comptoir General des Falsifications, Torrealine, Miel Artificiel 

etc. 

Nee le ler Aout, 1914, et heu/reusement decedee dans sa 5e annee a la suite 
d'v/n refroidissement provoque par un violent vent d'Ouest et d'une indigestion 
Turco-Bulgare. 

Les funerailles, suivies de I'inJiumation dans les tranchees, auront lieu a 
Bruxelles et se feront im,mediatement apres la signature de la Paix Generale 
et la rentree de 8a Majeste le Roi et de ses vaillants soldats." 

Even at such a time as this the irrepressible Gallic tem- 
perament would have its expression. 

The morning after the entrance to Mons there was a 
wonderful service in the city. There were eight Canadians 
killed at the capture of Mons itself. The people turned 
out en masse to the funeral. There was an oration by 
Monsieur Save, a representative from the Parliament at 
Brussels, who said: "Mons witnessed the arrival of the 
first soldiers of the British Army in August, 1914. Mons 



424 CANADA AT WAE 

welcomed her Canadian liberators in the very honr when 
the Huns were asking for mercy and pardon. Mons will 
preserve their memory in stone and bronze, but more last- 
ing still will be the tale of glory that every father will tell 
to his son and every mother pass on to her child in future 
years as an ideal to be worshipped, and all those who will 
have had the privilege of living through these great and 
heroic days will never forget to whom all this splendor is 
due, and in the ages to come the name of Canada will be 
associated with the very concept of those words — Honor, 
Fidelity, Heroism — and we ask you to carry back with 
you to your homes the homage of our eternal gratitude. '^ 

Wliile the battalion was at Mesvin it became known that 
the Canadian Corps, as part of the Second British Army, 
was to have the honor of taking part in the advance to the 
German frontier. The news was received with universal 
pleasure, for ever3^one felt that it was a logical seal to the 
great compact which Canada had made. 

A thanksgiving service was held on Sunday, November 
17th. At 6:45 a. m. the historic march began. The bat- 
talion touched the eastern outskirts of Mons and proceeded 
along the Eoulex road. The day was frosty and bright 
and the battalion looked remarkably well. The men 
marched in fine spirits. Long lines of returning French 
and Belgian prisoners were met on the road, while during 
the day hundreds of British prisoners were met on their 
way from the German frontier. Their stories were most 
interesting. They reported that they had been kept alive 
only by the food and clothing sent from England. They 
said that the retreating German army was in great dis- 
order, that rubber tires were v/orn out on the vehicles, that 
material of all kinds was being left behind and horses 
driven until worn out and then killed for food. The revolu- 
tion had evidently penetrated the army, for officers had 
been compelled to take down their decorations and the red 
flag was flying everywhere. 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 425 

Evidently the German surrender had not been made 
without excellent military reasons. At 10 :49 the battalion 
entered the village of Thieu, twelve kilometres from Mons, 
and went into billets for two days. 

The two days' rest at Thieu was marked by wet, foggy 
weather, which did not, however, dampen the hospitality of 
the inhabitants. The commanding officer spent much time 
in the transport, which was gradually nearing the inspection 
standard. From the inhabitants much was learned of the 
conditions during the four years of German occupation. It 
was apparent that the country had not been touched by the 
destructive side of war. The mines and the fertile soil, so 
like the loam of Manitoba, and the density of the popula- 
tion, all testified to the potential wealth of the district. 
But the people seemed to have lived in slavery. The 
Germans, by commandeering and fines, had systematically 
skimmed the entire production of Belgium above the life 
line. 

How any country could hope to control a conquered 
country by such methods is beyond the psychology of a 
Canadian. Among the Walloons there is a passionate resent- 
ment, not only against the Germans, but also against those 
of their countrymen who were intimate with them during 
the occupation. Several riots were reported in the adjacent 
villages, where men were beaten and women branded and 
their hair cut by vigilantes. Some cafes were wrecked. 
Just a little "decensus averni" to show that human nature, 
even in martyred Belgium, is pretty much the same as in 
Winnipeg or Quebec. 

On November 21st, at 08.30 hours, the battalion fell in, 
prepared to advance to its second objective. The band 
played farewell before the house of the burgomaster. The 
entire population cheered us through the streets. During 
a march of twenty kilometres the whole route was practi- 
cally through closed streets of towns and villages which ran 
one into the other. After the vast spaces of unoccupied 
28 



436 CANADA AT WAR 

land in Canada, it was like a revelation to pass through 
part of the most densely populated country in the world. 
Most of the road was of stone blocks. Only one man fell 
out on the march, and the men finished fit and strong. 
Along the whole way crowds lined the streets, and trium- 
phant arches were found in every village. In the town of 
La Louviere there were elaborate decorations. Some of 
the mottoes were most interesting — *' Canada Forever" 
was one of the most popular. At one spot even the horses 
began to prance and move with rhythmic dignity as they 
passed under an arch decorated with yellow, black and red, 
with the following lyrical inscription: ''Honor and glory 
to the brave, the defenders of civilization. '* Several men 
reconstructed their private opinions of themselves during 
the day. At 15.30 hours the battalion entered the town of 
Trazegnies, where they found most excellent billets for the 
night. 

There is a new song, the chorus of which expresses the 
feelings of every Canadian : 

" The army, the army, 
I liked it fine, and we'll see the Rhine; 

The army, the army. 
But I'll never go there any more." 

The march for the next few days was through the heart 
of industrial Belgium, where intensive agriculture and spe- 
cialized industries of all kinds have made the Province of 
Hainault, within a fifty-mile radius of Charleroi, a hive of 
human bees. The population has not been touched by the 
horrors of the battle zone, but has known to the full the 
fruitage of German rule. 

Passing mile after mile through lines of people, one was 
impressed with their look and bearing. They seemed to 
lack the energy and youthful abandon of Canadian crowds. 
On second thought, you cannot expect people who have 
lived on soup and vegetables for years not to show some 
effects of malnutrition. This is a list of the current prices 
of some of the necessaries of life between Mons and the 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 437 

Ehine : A milch cow, 6,000 francs ; beef, 20 francs per kilo ; 
boots, 300 francs per pair; suit of clothes, 800 francs; 
apples, 1 franc each ; anaemic hot-house grapes, 12 francs 
per kilo. 

Many a Canadian will go home from this old land with 
a new appreciation of his own despised back garden. 
Probably from long residence among the Indians, I have 
always regarded apples and peaches as fit food for a rumi- 
nant rather than the carnivorous Canadian. But I have 
already pictured myself watching with the pride of a mil- 
lionaire the growth of the vine on the kitchen wall. 

The people of Trazegnies extended a wonderful welcome 
to the boys of the battalion. The men were taken into their 
homes. One battle-scarred veteran was overcome with home- 
sickness when the wife of the burgomaster ordered him to 
wipe hi's feet on the mat before walking on her carpet. 
M. Labonne, a prominent evocat in Trazegnies, placed his 
beautiful home at the disposal of the Headquarters mess, 
he and his young family vanishing into the upstairs regions. 
The table was set with spotless linen and shining cut glass, 
the whole atmosphere contrasting strangely with the Spar- 
tan fare of our ration supply. The delicate champagne 
glasses, like lilies on their slender stems, seemed to cry 
aloud to high heaven for something which the quartermas- 
ter does not provide. They did not sigh in vain, however, 
for during the two days of our stay they were supplied 
from an unseen spring. 

The members of the mess are aU teetotalers, but not 
bigoted ones. On the last nigjit Monsieur and his charming 
wife graced the mess by their presence, and a young staff 
officer who spoke French was invited, it being slyly hinted 
that the party was in his honor. He was used as a speaking- 
trumpet for three hours. He finished a sterling Marathon 
performance by assuring Madame (who listened with shin- 
ing eyes) that Belgique was the soul of the alliance and that 
Liege would rank with Marathon in the epic of humanity. 



428 CANADA AT WAK 

His laryngitis is doing well, and it is hoped he will be 
convalescent before we reach Namur. 

The Canadian soldier is a born advertiser of his native 
land. In every house in the place for two days there was 
an orator eking out his scant French with convincing 
gestures to prove, between the light reflection of the blood 
puddings and hot milk, that Canada is the only country in 
the world. It would be good business for the Dominion 
Government to send to Belgium a carload of regimental 
badges and shoulder devices. They are prized by all the 
natives as priceless relics. It is distinctly against orders, 
but it is hard to refuse a pair of shining eyes pleading for 
your maple leaf as something beyond the price of rubies. 

The battalion left Trazegnies on November 24 at 10:30 
hours and marched through a series of villages and the 
towns of Courcelles and Gosilies, passing ten kilometers 
north of Charleroi. A halt was made at Gosilies for lunch. 
Here it was that one of the tragedies of the war occurred. 
The eagle eye of the president of the mess fell upon a shop 
window where a certain headcheese was for sale. He pur- 
chased it and carried it in triumph to the house of a 
professor of music, who had kindly placed his home at the 
disposal of the Colonel. Everyone was hungry and sat 
down with great eagerness, while the professor produced a 
music book of American rag-time, which he played with the 
air of the late Frau Wagner at a Bayreuth festival. The 
president remarked pleasantly that he had paid one franc 
a pound for the headcheese. Someone with a mathemati- 
cal turn of mind said that if meat was ten francs a pound, 
**what is thisf At the same moment the doctor dis- 
covered some blonde eyelashes in his portion. The pessi- 
mist of the mess began to speak of the glycerine factory 
and kadaver meal, while at the same moment the professor, 
whether by design or by accident, slipped into a minor key. 
The bust of Mozart looked down from the piano with a 
satirical expression. It suddenly became apparent that 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 429 

nobody was hungry. The president said firmly that he 
would carry it to the Rhine if necessary. The Colonel 
said bitterly that it was the appropriate place for it and 
he hoped he would bury it there. The padre said that he 
did not want to suggest anything, but that he would take a 
chance and read the burial service over it. The bugle call 
*'fall in'' ended a most interesting discussion. The march 
was continued and the battalion, just after dark, entered 
the village of Lambusard. 

The population, to welcome us, sent up a choice collection 
of Heine flares in lieu of fireworks. It was an eerie sight, 
and, combined with the dusk of evening, the effect was 
electric. Men instinctively felt for their rifles and steel 
helmets, for it was a perfect imitation of the old nerve- 
racking performance of entering the trenches on an active 
front. The poor fellows could hardly realize that they had 
done with that forever. We stayed at Lambusard only one 
night and on the 25th, at 10 :30 hours, the battalion left in 
column of route for a march of twelve kilometres. It rained 
all day and the roads were heavy with mud, but there were 
no stragglers when we reached the picturesque village of 
Spy at 15 :00 hours. 

This last day's march was through a more open and 
rugged country, and many of the population seemed to be 
of Teutonic origin. We were now within five miles of the 
source of the Somme, and before us lay the celebrated ring 
of forts around the city of Namur, where in 1914 the Ger- 
man artillery had proved to the world the uselessness of 
fortifications against modern guns. 

On AVednesday, the 27th, the battalion left Spy at 10 :15 
hours and arrived at the cavalry barracks at Namur at 
13 :50 hours. Namur is the capital of one of the nine prov- 
inces of Belgium, to which it gives its name. It seems to 
mark a transition stage in the various ethnic strata across 
the country. The industrial belt seems to have been passed 
after a week's marching through a solid block of indistin- 
guishable towns and villages, and a rich agricultural region 



430 CANADA AT WAR 

stretches before ns. There evidently has been a distinctly 
Teutonic element in this city, albeit a minority. But one 
heard on all sides the stories of the frenzied German 
advance in 1914. It seems to have been the deliberate plan 
of the High Command, in accordance with the theories of 
von Bernhardi, to break the spirit of the people by terror- 
ism. Incendiary companies went through the towns mark- 
ing a proportion of the houses for destruction. Men, 
women and children were shot in cold blood. The story of 
Dinant has become one of the classic tragedies of the war. 
The Germans gathered the men together in the market- 
square, opposite the church, and on the other side placed 
the women and children. They then asked them to salute 
the German flag, and when they refused they shot down 
the women and bayonetted the children before their eyes; 
then they systematically butchered the men where they 
stood. The atrocious story was told by eye-witnesses who 
wept at the recollection. It caused a feeling of horror 
towards the invaders which decades will not efface. Five 
hundred and seventy innocent persons died in this one holo- 
caust of kultur. It is stories like this that make Tommies 
say that kultur is not an idea but an odor. 

The Brigade spent the day at the great cavalry barracks 
and on the morning of the 29th, at 10:05 hours, marched 
through the city towards the frontier, changing their gen- 
eral direction half-right. As we crossed the Meuse we 
looked back on the grey fortifications which crossed the 
heights 200 feet above us, and the scene looked like a pic- 
ture out of a mediaeval world. In any part of the world 
these forts are as obsolete before modern artillery as the 
great wall of China. 

Passing through the prosperous suburbs of Jambres, the 
battalion swung into the open country and the modern 
forts of. Namur appeared. Low massive earthworks 
crowned with concrete pillboxes like mushrooms, the same 
as those which at Liege held the first German advance until 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 431 

the great guns were brought up. At 14:40 hours the bat- 
talion entered the village of Bonneville and went into billets 
for the night. 

Headquarters was established in the Chateau de Bonne- 
ville, where the Count and Madame Le Chatelaine offered 
ns the freedom of the great rambling old house. There 
were fine, charming children, whose presence made the day 
a memorable one. Their governess, who spoke English 
**made in Brussels," had lectured to her charges on les 
Canadiens. They were very much impressed with the 
** tonsure" of the president of the mess, whose one secret 
sorrow is the inability of his carefully nursed forelock to 
cover the bald spot over the bump of philoprogenitiveness. 
The romantic governess wove for herself a long tissue 
about this "religieux" who had forsaken his monastic cell 
for the rigors of the battlefield. The monk was in par- 
ticularly good form during the evening, his rendering of 
La Veuve Joyeuse being particularly admired. When the 
Colonel innocently introduced the padre as another cure, 
Mademoiselle exclaimed, ''Mon Dieu, c'est une seminaire.'* 

On the 30th the battalion resumed its march and covered 
25 kilometres before going into billets at Miecret. 

On resuming the march on December 1, at 8:05 hours, 
we entered a country which was very different from any 
other part of Belgium which we had seen. There were 
many hills, and the roads were lined with trees, like the 
roads in France. During the day the country became 
rugged, and rippling clear water streams were seen 
descending from the hills. The country had been reforested 
in many places, and the scenery was very like some parts of 
Surrey. The ridge of hills was as picturesque as Hindhead 
and the Devil's Punch Bowl. In the center of the valley 
lay the village of Barvaux, which we entered at 13:45 
hours. The men were tired, but finished the three days' 
march in excellent spirits. The Headquarters were in the 
home of M. de la Kocheblin, an ardent patriot, his grand- 



432 CANADA AT WAR 

father having been Governor of Liege during the revolu- 
tion, and one of Napoleon's generals. He produced many 
historic documents signed by Murat and other marshals, 
who had been the personal friends of his distinguished 
ancestor. 

Our battalion is now two route marches from the German 
frontier, the advanced brigade of the Second Canadian 
Division having reached Germany to-day. It appears 
that our host is really M. le Marquis de la Rocheblin, with 
a palace in Brussels, who had, with his family, been con- 
fined in three rooms of his chateau here while German 
officers for four years swaggered about his grounds. "When 
Mademoiselle Yvonne returned from Liege, where she and 
her duenna had been witnessing the triumphal entry of 
King Albert on Saturday, a celebration was held in the 
chateau. The bands played in the hall and the younger 
officers began a desperate rivalry for the hand of Made- 
moiselle on the ballroom floor. The Marquis became more 
and more eloquent as the evening progressed, at last becom- 
ing incoherent in his admiration of President Wilson — 
quel homme — to whom a statue in gold ought to be erected 
in every market-place in Belgium. It vras pointed out that 
Sir Robert Borden and Horatio Bottomley were also 
deserving of the gratitude of all friends of liberty; but 
the Marquis had never heard of them. He was quite will- 
ing to learn, however. AVhen some London busses passed 
through the town loaded with soldiers, there were some 
ancient theatrical notices still visible on the side, one being 
the Montague Glass comed}^, Potash and Perlmutter. The 
Marquis led the cheering — :"Vive le General Potash!'' 
"Vive le General Perlmutter!" Such is fame. 

I would like in conclusion to write, not of the political 
developments of the future — we must leave this for 
another time — but to tell you of two or three things that 
came with irresistible force just as soon as the cannon 
ceased to fire. When you began to realize, as you looked 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: MONS 433 

at your gas-mask, that you would never put it on again, 
that every man could sleep under the stars that night 
and not think of the passing of an aeroplane laden with 
bombs, that your helmet would exist as a souvenir, it was 
all very wonderful. The next thought was that Canada had 
been led by the hand of God to take part in this great 
crusade. Somehow or other Canada had made her own 
indefinable contribution to the victory. Canada had found 
her soul during the war, but at a terrible cost. 

The day after the armistice was signed we looked over 
the figures of our own battalion and found that there were 
720 men with the battalion in France that day; that there 
had been 800 casualties since August 8 ; that 780 men had 
died in France, and 3,500 had passed through the battalion 
in its history. That 's a sample of what it cost to make the 
Canadian Corps. 

The next thought that came to mind was that we had to 
be thankful that we had gone in. If Britain had hesitated 
a moment France would have gone down to destruction, 
and God knows what the future would have been. Ger- 
many's guilt as the instigator of the war is beyond per- 
adventure. It was a plot and nearly succeeded, but God 
was in His heaven. I am glad the Christian Churches of 
the Empire loyally supported the war. This is not the 
time nor the place to discuss how far we have been bound 
by the dead hand of other centuries, but, considering all 
things, the Christian Churches played a noble part in stim- 
ulating the spirit of sacrifice and resignation which has 
shed such splendor on human character. 

Beyond all these obvious truths, however, it is also true 
that the real reason for the collapse of civilization is 
that all the nations have been in a varying degree 
guilty in forgetting God. The Age of Constantine, which 
historians tell us was the Golden Age when the Church 
conquered the world, was in reality the beginning of an age- 
long compromise. The priest has too often been a patriot 



434 CANADA AT WAR 

first and a Christian afterwards, so that the spirit of Christ 
has been consistently kept out of the international arena. 

If you ask the average man who has been over to France 
if Christianity and the war are compatible, he will at once 
say, ^''No/' Can a man be a perfect Christian and a war- 
rior at the same time I The preacher will say **Yes," but 
the man will say ' * No. ' ^ There is something wrong with the 
world. We must learn what it is that is wrong. Man was 
not made to do the things that men have been compelled to 
do in the last four years. Human bodies were not intended 
to be maimed or eaten by flies by the deliberate act of man. 
It is not our rulers only who are wrong — for they are the 
same kind of people that we are — but men must decide for 
themselves that this world ought to be made nationally 
what it is individually in its relationship between man and 
man. If I thought that it was necessary to the end of time 
that men should fight like jungle beasts, to continue to 
make wars develop in intensity, I would pray the Almighty 
God to touch our planet with His finger and end the horror 
of it all. 

I believe that there is an idealism in the air that there 
never was before. You and I must do aU that we can to 
see that these ideals shall not die, that we shall not be con- 
tent to live hereafter on the plane of the past. And the day 
shall come, please God, when humanity shall beat its swords 
into plowshares and its spears into pruning-hooks, when 
men shall cease to destroy what they cannot create, and 
war, with all its unspeakable horrors, shall be relegated to 
the museum of the past. 



VI. THE INVISIBLE CITY 

The Bivouac of the Dead 

" Now you must note that the city stood upon a mighty hill, 
but the pilgrims went up that hill with ease, because they had 
these two men to lead them up by the arms; also, they had left 
their mortal garments behind them in the river, for though they 
went in with them, they came out without them. They, there- 
fore, went up here with much agility and speed, though the 
foundation upon which the city was framed was higher than 
the clouds. They went up through the regions of the air, sweetly 
talking as they went, being comforted, because they safely got 
over the river, and had such glorious companions to attend 
them." — The Pilgrim's Progress. 

EvEEY road leads to some city. The white roads of 
France led the advancing armies to five cities which marked 
the mileposts of victory. There is one remaining. It has 
no name, but its mystic spires can be seen to-night more 
clearly than the Gothic arches of Amiens or the Belfroi 
of Mons. Its silent streets are scattered all over France 
and Belgimn, but in an instant it assumes reality, and once 
seen it is never forgotten. It is approached by the Road 
of Duty, which divides it from north to south, while the 
Way of Glory runs from east to west. The Temple of 
Immortality stands by the River of Life, where restful 
shade-trees grow. 

Nearly sixty thousand Canadians have given their lives 
for freedom, and most of them are sleeping beyond the sea. 
After the second battle of Ypres the author of ' ' Canada in 
Flanders ' ' wrote : ' ' The graveyard of Canada in Flanders 
is large. It is very large. Those who lie there have left 
their mortal remains on alien soil. To Canada they have 
bequeathed their memories and their glory: 

"On Fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread. 
And Glory guards with solemn round 
The bivouac of the dead." 

[435] 



436 CANADA AT WAR 

Since then the village has grown to a great city. In the 
eternal desolation of the Ypres salient, in the quiet fields of 
Pozieres, on the sand dunes of Etaples, between Caix and 
Eozieres, on the Sunken Road, under the lofty poplars in 
many a hallowed spot from Arras to Cambrai are fields 
which ''will be forever" Canada. 

It is a Canadian city. Separated from Canada by two 
thousand miles of ocean, neither time nor space can ever 
alter its character. Hamilton and Winnipeg in the next 
hundred years may grow rich and forget, but every June 
the breeze tliat blows over the poppies will be perfumed 
with the memory of Canada at her best. 

Dominion Day was celebrated by the Canadians in France 
with an intensity which is only possible here — partly, no 
doubt, because they were far from home and the light in 
the shrine of memory sheds a glamor on everything with 
the maple leaf trademark, but chiefly because of the grow- 
ing conviction that Canada is making and will make in 
still larger measure her own contribution to the Empire 
and the world. 

Outside the village of Tinques, on the St. Pol road, a 
stadium was erected within sound of the German guns and 
thirty thousand Canadians gathered for their Oljinpiad. 
The Prime Minister of Canada was present and the Duke 
of Connaught was an honored guest. Never were games 
celebrated with greater joyousness of heart. The spirit 
of the Great Adventure was in the air. Everyone knew 
that great days were coming. As the teams of the various 
Divisions stood in the sunshine, the thought suggested by 
''Morituri te salutant Caesar" must have touched their 
minds. But that feeling gave an indescribable zest to the 
pageant. The Spartans were playing again before their 
Thermopylae. 

The eve of such a day should be a vigil. It was alto- 
gether fitting that the chaplains, with the hearty support 
of the commanding officers, should have set apart Sunday, 



A STORY OF FIVE CITIES : THE INVISIBLE CITY 437 

June 30, as Memorial and Decoration Day, wherever pos- 
sible, in each cemetery in France. 

Let me give you a picture from the garden of memory on 
a glorious Sunday morning last Summer. 

There is a sandy hill overlooking the sea in old Nor- 
mandy, where a field of wooden crosses marks the resting- 
place of more than seven hundred Canadians who sleep 
side by side with their brothers from every land where 
Britons dwell. On every cross there is a metal plate which 
tells everything which can make identity certain. There is 
no grass, but the clean sand is carefully weeded by a com- 
pany of blue-eyed English girls in long yellow boots, who 
bear the initials W.A.A.C. upon their uniforms. Flower 
beds are being planted, and already the paths are lined 
with petunias and the ubiquitous scarlet poppies of ** Flan- 
ders fields.'* Some day, no doubt, the avenues will be 
lined with maples and, I hope, the paths sown with the 
tiger lily which grows in Canadian soil. 

In the center there is a circle on which all the paths con- 
verge. Here a platform has been erected and covered with 
flags, while a glorious wreath of roses covers the front of 
the table. Early in the morning a ''fatigue party" (a mis- 
nomer in this case) placed a sprig of green bough, a bunch 
of wild flowers, and a red rose on every grave. It was, as 
I have said, a glorious summer day, and as the band drew 
nearer the gate the only discordant note was the vicious 
barking of the ''Archies" at some distant outpost as they 
drove back a sacrilegious Hun machine. 

Every Canadian unit in the area was represented. 
Thousands of soldiers filled the paths, facing inwards 
towards the platform in the centre. The band was behind 
the platform, and in front were Imperial staff officers, and 
others in American, Australian and New Zealand uniforms. 
The nurses lined the circle around the platform, their blue 
uniforms making a bright contrast with the mass of khaki. 
They each held a sheaf of cut flowers in their arms. 



438 CANADA AT WAR 

The service began with one verse of "0 Canada,*^ and 
the opening words seemed to bring the multitude together 
in spirit. The great memorial hymn which followed linked 
the visible congregation with the Church triumphant. We 
only filled the ground floor of the temple, while the great 
galleries above looked down. 

" For all the saints who from their labours rest, 
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed. 
Thy name, O Jesu, be forever blest, 
Alleluia ! 

O blest communion, fellowship divine. 
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; 
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. 
Alleluia! " 

The lesson was from the vision of an exile on an Aegean 
isle when the monster Domitian ruled the civilized world. 
I was standing at the gate, sixty yards away, and distinctly 
heard the words: ''These are they which came out of 
great tribulation and have washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. They shall hunger 
no more, neither thirst any more . . . and God shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes.'' Then followed a short 
prayer of dedication and for peace, and the Lord's Prayer. 

The memorial address was delivered by Major G. 0. 
Fallis, the assistant director of the Chaplain's Service. The 
Major is a tall, athletic man, seemingly quite young, with 
dark hair and bronzed face. Like all the other Canadians 
upon the platform, he wore simple khaki. He is in civil 
life a Methodist clergjntnan. 

There were four Churches gathered around him as he 
spoke for the Christian spirit of the Canadian Army. "In 
my Father's house there are many mansions." There was 
only one subject for such an occasion — the men who slept 
at our feet and the cause for which they died. This is not a 
record, but a memory. The great quality of the address was 
its sympathy and suggestiveness. The people there were 
thinking deeply as the preacher spoke under a perfect blue 



A STOEY OF FIVE CITIES: THE INVISIBLE CITY 439 

sky. A constant stream of lorries and automobiles hnrried 
by on the road. The occupants, coming up suddenly on the 
scene, with awe-struck intuition, saluted as they passed 
the gate. The drone of a distant aeroplane gave a weird 
reality to the scene. I began to dream — the thought of 
immortality, how wonderful it is ! Incredible that men in 
leather boots and mud-colored wool should ever have hit 
upon it. And yet it is simple truth to say that to-day it is 
the material which seems unreal and abnormal. There was 
a time when the other world seemed a place for the old, the 
feeble and the unfortunate — those who, for various rea- 
sons, were better away from here. But now it is the 
bravest, strongest and best who are there. Immortality 
seems nearer and more natural than ever. Then there is 
the deathlessness of an ideal for which men have suffered 
and died. The cause of liberty has been glorified and made 
more precious because these men died for it. Now it is our 
turn to hold the torch. 

" Be yours to hold it high. 
If ye break faith with us who die, 
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 
In Flanders' Fields." 

As the sermon ended the nurses turned right and left 
among the graves and scattered their roses as they went, 
lingering sadly over the graves of the sisters who were 
killed a few weeks ago when the hospitals were raided. 

Then came the most thriUing moment of the service as 
three trumpeters stepped forward and the notes of the 
"Last Post" rang over the hills and the sea. I never 
heard anything like it before. There were three trumpets, 
each with a different note, but the harmony was perfect. 
One was high and clear, like the spirit of the Eockies; 
another sweet and flowing, like the voice of a river ; and the 
third deep, with the majesty of the northern woods. It was 
Canada weeping like Rachel for her children. The Assist- 
ant Deputy Chaplain-General raised his hand in benediction, 
and the most impressive service I ever witnessed was over. 



440 CANADA AT WAE 

*'God Save the King" came almost as a relief. It 
brought us down to earth again and reminded us that for 
mortal men the way to live up to the vision moments of 
life is not to dream of them, but to stand to attention, move 
to the right and carry on. 

It is a City of Youth. Listen ! It is Rupert Brooke who 
sings, one of our poets silenced early in this strife — 
silenced, yet still speaking: 

" Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead ! 
There's none of these so lonely and poor of old. 
But dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold. , 

These laid the world away; poured out the red 
Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be 
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene. 
That men call age; and those who would have been 
Their sons, they gave their immortality. 

" Blow, bugles, blow ! They brought us, for our dearth, 
Holiness lacked so long, and Love and Pain, 
Honour has come back, as a king, to earth. 
And paid his subjects with a royal wage; 
And Nobleness walks in our way again; 
And we have come into our heritage." 

Maurice Maeterlinck writes to the Daily Mail concerning 
the young dead : 

*'Our memories are to-day peopled by a multitude of 
heroes struck down in the flower of their youth and very 
different from the pale and languid cohort of the past, com- 
posed almost wholly of the sick and the aged. We must tell 
ourselves that now in each of our homes, both in our cities 
and in the country-side, both in the palace and the meanest 
hovel, there lives and reigns a young dead man in the glory 
of his strength. ' ' 

Canada is the home of youth. We saw our destiny afar 
off, and the consciousness that our morning hours were only 
da^vning made these boys of ours doubly dear to us. The 
world needed them and this new century was to be their 
arena, and now they sleep by the Arras-Cambrai road. 
But their youth has made their country forever young. 



A STOKY OF FIVE CITIES: THE INVISIBLE CITY 441 

Society is a spiritual contract by which three parties 
are bound — the dead, the living, and the unborn. Our sixty 
thousand kept it on the red fields of Vimy and Cambrai; 
they kept it above the clouds, where many died to make the 
Canadian name live. Therefore, if we would be true to 
those who were true to us, honor binds us to keep our con- 
tract. There is laid upon us a new obligation to make this 
dear land which men have died to save the hope and the 
blessing of the world. 

" God grant we may be worthy of His trust, 
God grant the love and hope and earnest prayer 
Of all who suffer and who turn to Him 
May, in this war of spirit, — good and ill — 
Conquer at last the hatred in the world." 

29 



INDEX 



PAGB 

Aeroplane War-Gifts 262 

Agriculture and the War, Canadian 225-Y 

Alderson, Lieut.-Gen. Sir E. A. H 126-7, 136, 140 

Aliens, Canadian Treatment of 244-5 

Amiens, Canadians in Battle of 180-2, 361-75 

Arras, Canadians in First Battle of 156-70, 170-1 

Arras, Canadians at the Second Battle of 182, 376-89 

Artillery, Canadian 190-1 

Aviation, Canadians and 189-90 

Banks and the War, Canadian 211, 238-40 

Battalions, Original Commanders of Canadian. 93-8 

Battalions, Original Strength of Canadian 93-8 

Belgian Relief, Canadian 252-3 

Bellevue Spur, Battle of. 173, 175 

Bonne Entente Movement 313-14 

Borden Government and the War. 54-72, 304, 306, 308-9 

Borden Government in 1914 54-72 

Borden, Et. Hon. Sir Robert .30, 38-9, 46, 48-9, 

64-8, 89, 108, 114, 119-20, 304-5, 308, 311-12, 315, 318, 
320-2-3, 325, 328, 336-7-8-9, 341, 343-4r-5, 346-7, 432 

Bourlon Wood, Canadian Capture of. 183 

Bruce Medical Report 113-15 

Burrell, Agriculture and Hon. Martin 69 

Byng, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Julian 140, 155, 176 

Cambrai, Canadians in Battle of 184-5, 390-403 

Canada in 1914, Attitude of. 4-21, 25-9 

Canada in 1914, Prosperity of 15, 16 

Canadian Corps, Characteristics of 178-9 

Canadian Mounted Rifles 143-9, 166 

Canadian Patriotic Fund 247-8 

Canadian Troops in England : 

At Salisbury Plain 100-5 

Canadian Women and » 116-18 

[443] 



4M INDEX 

Canadian Troops in England — (Continued): ^^^^ 

Government Control of 109-11 

Hospitals and 112-16, 192 

Moral Condition of 118-20 

Officers of 1st Contingent in 104 

Payment of. 108-9 

Sailing from Valcartier of 99-100 

Second Division in England 106-7 

1918, Official Staff of 121-2 

Canadians Available for Service 76-7 

Canal du J^ord, Struggle for ' 183 

Casualties, Canadian. 129, 135, 137-8, 142-3, 153, 167, 176, 188 

Churclies and the War, Canadian 262-4 

Coal Production and Problems 235-7 

Courcelette, Canadians at 151-3 

Conscription, Origin and Passage of 86-93, 311-12 

Conscription in Quebec 291-2, 294-6, 298-9 

Contingent, First Canadian 74-5 

Currie, Lieut. -Gen. Sir Arthur 127, 139, 150, 154-5, 

174, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186-7-8, 372, 397 

Dead, City of the 436-41 

Debt, Canadian National 214 

Dental Corps, Canadian 192-3 

Drocourt-Queant Line, Capture of 182-3 

Empire, Canada and the 5-7 

Empire, Canadian Relations with 33-4-42 

Engineers, Canadian 191-2 

Enlistments, Canadian 79, 80-1, 82, 83-4, 88 

Expenditures, Canadian War 213 

Eestubert, Canadians at Battle of 137-8 

Einancial Conditions, Canadian 210-14, 216-17 

Financial Policy of Sir T. White 50-1, 59-62 

Financial System in England, Canadian 108-9 

First Contingent, Officers of 104 

Forces at the Front, Numbers of 154, 177 

Forestry Battalions, Canadian 191 

Foster, Trade Administration of Sir George 66 

French Canadian Ministers 70-1 



INDEX 445 

French Canadians in the War : ^^^^ 

Bi-lingualism Issue and the 279-81, 286-7 

Educational Conditions and 270-9 

Nature of the Problem of 267-70, 297-9 

Nationalism and 284-9, 302 

Politics and 283-4, 289-91, 293-4 

Roman Catholic Church and .273-8, 281-3, 291-3 

French, F. M. Sir John 136 

General Elections of 1918: 

Extension of Parliament Refused 319 

Liberal Policy in 329-31 

Returns in 332 

The Churches and 331-2 

Union Government Platform in 326-8 

Government Control in England, Canadian 108-12 

Government, Members and Policy of Canadian 54r-73 

Graves in France and Flanders, Canadian 193 

Haig, F. M. Sir Douglas 170, 172, 174, 181, 183 

Hazen, Marine Administration of Hon. J. D 68 

Hill 70, Canadians at 172, 174-5 

Hooge, Battle of 148-9 

Hospitals, Care of Canadian 65 

Housing Problems 237 

Hughes and the War, Sir Sam 62-4 

Hughes and Munitions, Sir Sam 196, 199, 203-4, 205-7 

Hughes, Opinions of Sir Sam 65 

I. 0. D. K, War Work of 258-9 

Imperial War Cabinet 336-9, 340-2 

Imperial War Conference 339-40, 348 

Imperial Munitions Board 202, 204, 207-9 

Independence Talk in Canada 16 

Industry, Canadian War 195-6, 197-8, 200-5, 208-9, 222-5 

Initiative, Canadian 188-9 

International Position of Canada 342-3 

Eiaki University, Canadian 120-1 

Knights of Columbus 256-7 

Labour and the War 233-5 

Laurier, Rt. Hon. Sir Wilfrid. . . .33, 44, 47, 51, 58-9, 88, 91-2, 
289, 294, 303, 305, 307, 309-10, 312, 315-16, 320, 329-31 



446 INDEX 

PAGE 

League of Nations, Canada and the 345 

Lens, Trench Fighting in Advance on 171-2 

Lens and Arras (1918), Trench Fighting at 179-80 

Liberal Party and Conscription 91-3 

Liberal Policy and the War. 303, 305, 307, 310, 313, 315, 329-31 
Liberalism and the War 47-8, 51-2 

Machine Gun Contributions 260-2 

Medical Corps, Canadian 113-15, 192 

Mercer, Death of Maj.-Gen 143-9 

Militia Department, Administration of 65, 74: 

Military Service Act in Quebec 294—6 

Military Service (Conscription) Bill 89-93, 311-12 

Mons, Canadians Capture 186-7, 415-34 

Morals of Canadian Soldiers 118-20 

Munitions, Canadian Making of 194-209 

National Service Board 83 

Navy League of Canada 255 

Officers at the Front, Canadian. 123, 126, 127, 139, 156, 176-7-8 
Overseas Club, Work of 257 

Pacificism in Canada 13-15, 18, 77-8 

Parliament in its First War Session 47-52 

Passchendaele Kidge, Battle of 172-4 

Peace Conference, Canada at the 343-8 

Prices — Cost of Living 227-32 

Princess Patricia's Regiment . . . .105-6, 123-6, 140-1, 143, 166 

Production, Canadian War 232-3 

Prohibition, Canadian 119, 237-8 

Quebec in 1914, War Attitude of 12 

Quebec, War Action of 294-6, 299-301 

Railway Nationalization 220-2 

Railways and the War, Canadian 217-22 

Recruiting, Problems of 77-9, 81-2, 85-6 

Red Cross, British 248 

Red Cross, Canadian 249-52 

Revenues and Taxes, Canadian War 213-14 

Rhondda, Lord, and Canadian Munitions 201-2 

Rogers, Policy of Hon. Robert 67 



INDEX 447 

PAGE 

Sanctuary Wood, Battle of 143-S, 150 

Shell Committee, Canadian 196 

Ship-building, Canadian 208, 225 

Somme, Canadian Trench Fights at the 153 

Steel Industry, Canadian 195-6, 203 

St. Eloi, Canadians at 141-2 

St Julien, Canadians at Battle of 127-36 

Trade, Canadian War 210, 215-16 

Transport System, Canadian. 191 

Union Government in Canada: 

Conservative View of. 306, 310-11, 320-1 

Formation and Members of 322-6 

Franchise Act and 319, 321-2-3 

Liberal Attitude Toward 307, 308-10, 312-13, 315 

Origin of 303, 306-7, 311 

Policy of 325-7, 332-3 

Sir Robert Borden's Struggle for 310-12, 314r-15, 318-23 

Western Convention and 316, 317 

Western View of 315-16, 318 

United States Influence in Canada 8-12 

Universities of the War, Canadian 264-6 

Valcartier Camp 75-Q 

Valcartier, Departure of First Contingent from. 99-100 

Valenciennes, Canadians in Capture of 186, 404-14 

Victoria Cross, Canadian Winners of 349-52 

Vimy Ridge, Battle of 156-70, 176 

War Action of Canada in 1914 33-4, 38-53 

War, Canadian Opinion of. . .4, 13-15, 17-21, 22-3, 29, 30-2, 35 

War Gifts, Canadian 246-62 

War Loans, Canadian 214—15 

War Office and Munitions 194, 196, 197, 200, 205 

War, Outbreak of the World 24-5, 36^8 

War Purchasing Commission 243 

War Supplies, British and Allied Purchase of 240-3 

War-Time Franchise Act 319, 321-2-3 

Wars, Canadians in British '^3-4 

Western Liberal Convention 316, 317 

Woman's Suffrage 238 



448 INDEX 

PAGE 

Women's Societies, Work of 257-60 

Women's Work in England 116-18 

World War, Diary of 353-6 

Y. M. C. A., Canadian 254-5 

Ypres, Canadians in Second Battle of 123-5, 127-36, 141 



